Ruling party scores big wins in local election contests

Apr 10 (straitstimes.com) - Sapporo is set to resume its bid for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, while Osaka will stay the course in its pursuit of integrated resorts, after their incumbent leaders handily trounced opponents in local elections across Japan on Sunday.

At stake were the gubernatorial seats of nine prefectures, including Hokkaido and Osaka, and the mayoral seats of six “government ordinance” cities with more than 500,000 residents. Voters also chose assembly members in 41 prefectures and 17 big cities.

Sunday marked the first of two rounds of unified local elections – the next is on April 23 – that have taken place every four years since 1947. Polls at various levels of municipal government such as prefecture governor, city mayor and local assemblies are held on the same day, and are seen as a midterm assessment of the incumbent government.

Also on April 23 are national by-elections to fill five vacant Parliament seats.

A resounding victory in both rounds, along with Mr Kishida’s recent rebound in Cabinet approval ratings, is set to intensify talk of a snap election. ...continue reading

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