23 April Lower & Upper House bye-elections
JAPAN POLITICS
Out of the five recent by-elections held on 23 April, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan won four of them. The five elections—four for the Lower House and one for the Upper House—were viewed as significant litmus tests for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The elections were taken seriously because there was talk that Kishida would call a quick election depending on the results. This was hastily turned down by Kishida who said that the current legislature has important policies to pass still. The newly elected lawmakers will take part in the remaining days of the current legislative session, which concludes on June 21.
Chiba No. 5 district: Kentaro Yazaki of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lost to LDP candidate Arfiya Eri, who defeated six other candidates.
Oita Prefecture Upper House: Aki Shirasaka, a businesswoman backed by the LDP, defeated Tadatomo Yoshida, a former CDP Upper House lawmaker, to win the election.
Yamaguchi Prefecture's No. 4 district: Shinji Yoshida, an LDP candidate, won the election to fill the late former prime minister Shinzo Abe's seat. Yoshida defeated Yoshifu Arita of the CDP to win the election.
Yamaguchi Prefecture No. 2 district: LDP candidate Nobuchiyo Kishi defeated seasoned opponent Hideo Hiraoka to win the election.
Wakayama No. 1 district: Yumi Hayashi of Nippon Ishin no Kai defeated Hirofumi Kado of the LDP to win the election.