Campaigning kicks off in Japan for two lower house by-elections

Campaigning kicked off Tuesday for two lower house by-elections that will take place on April 24, with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition going head-to head with the newly-formed main opposition Democratic Party for a single-seat constituency in Hokkaido, with a separate campaign also beginning in Kyoto.

The by-elections, ahead of the upper house elections scheduled for this summer, mark the first time since the general election in 2014 that the ruling bloc and its opposing camp have squared off in an election.

But while the two camps will both be vying for the Hokkaido No. 5 single-seat constituency, only the opposition candidates will be competing for the Kyoto No. 3 single-seat constituency.

It is also the first time the Democratic Party, formed in March between the then Democratic Party of Japan and the smaller Japan Innovation Party, has tested its clout in public, in a contest that is widely seen as a litmus test for the public's support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic and security policies, both of which have drawn flak from the electorate.

Despite saying publicly on a number of occasions that he had no intentions of doing so, Abe has recently conceded that he is, in fact, mulling the idea of dissolving Japan's more powerful lower chamber of parliament and calling a snap election at the same time as the upper house election this summer.

The Hokkaido race will provide further evidence as to Abe's intentions in this direction, depending on the results, although political commentators are generally in consensus that the Japanese leader intends to hold a double election in a bid for his ruling LDP to win a super majority in both chambers of parliament and be able to enact legislation more swiftly.

Ultimately, as Abe has admitted, he plans to formally amend Japan's pacifist constitution on the back of forcing legislation through both houses of parliament last year in a bid to broaden the operational scope of Japan's Self-Defense Forces. For Abe to achieve what he has described as his legacy, the prime minister will need to garner the majority of support from the public in a referendum on the controversial issue.

According to the latest media polls, however, almost half of Japanese people disagree with the current security laws which recently came into effect, with 48 percent of people polled by public broadcaster NHK saying they do not approve of the new security laws, which mark the biggest shift in Japan's security policy since WWII, while 42 percent said they did approve.

In terms of the most important issues in picking candidates for the summer's upper house elections, the respondents said that social security and economic-linked issues were the most important, followed by a possible sales tax hike, and thereafter issues pertaining to national security and the constitution.

A separate poll also showed that the support rate for Abe's Cabinet has dropped to 42 percent, while the disapproval rate has risen to 39 percent, in a sign that the hawkish leader's security-driven plans, by way of a double election and a referendum, may not be as elementary as first thought, with the opposition camp looking to rally the public for further support, particularly away from Abe's military goals.

As for the by-election campaigns kicking off Tuesday, following the death of the Liberal Democratic Party's Nobutaka Machimura, a former foreign minister and lower house speaker, who passed away last year, Machimura's son-in-lawYoshiaki Wada, 44, will be running for the LDP, while independent Maki Ikeda, 43, will be running with the backing of the Democrats and three other opposition parties.

The parties united in supporting Ikeda against the LDP are all calling for the scrapping of Abe's new controversial security laws.

The Kyoto by-election is for an empty seat in the lower house following LDP lawmaker Kensuke Miyazaki stepping down after revelations of an extra marital affair came to light, causing widespread public indignation. The LDP has opted not to field a candidate, while the Democratic Party and Social Democratic Party are backing Kenta Izumi, 41, who previously lost to Miyazaki in 2014.

In the Kyoto by-election, the Initiatives from Osaka party and the Party for Japanese Kokoro, are also fielding candidates. Enditem