東京とうきょう都議とぎ選せん 投票とうひょう始はじまる

The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election will be held on the 22nd.

Each party positioned this as a prelude to the upcoming House of Councillors election, and appealed for support with an organization on par with a national election.

In the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, 295 candidates ran for 127 seats across 42 electoral districts.

This number of candidates is the highest in Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections since the Heisei era.

Looking at each party, the officially endorsed candidates from parties with seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly are as follows: 42 from the Liberal Democratic Party, 37 from Tomin First no Kai, 22 from Komeito, 24 from the Communist Party, 20 from the Constitutional Democratic Party, 6 from Nippon Ishin no Kai, and 3 from the Tokyo Seikatsusha Network.

On the other hand, among political parties and organizations that do not have seats in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, the Democratic Party for the People had 18 candidates, Reiwa Shinsengumi had 3, the Sanseito Party had 4, the Japan Conservative Party had 1, the Social Democratic Party had 1, and Saisei no Michi had 42.

In addition, 72 independent and other candidates ran for election.

This election is expected to focus on several points: whether the Liberal Democratic Party LDP will remain the largest party despite issues such as some Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly LDP members failing to report income from political fundraising parties in their financial statements; whether parties supporting Governor Koikes administration, such as the LDP, Tomin First no Kai, and Komeito, which together hold a majority in the assembly, will increase their seats; whether opposition parties like the Japanese Communist Party and the Constitutional Democratic Party, which often take a confrontational stance against the governor, will expand their support; and furthermore, how many seats parties and political groups without current representation in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly will be able to win in this election.

This year is a once-in-12-years occasion when both the House of Councillors election and the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election overlap. Each party has positioned the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election as a prelude to the main event, with party leaders and executives campaigning across Tokyo to rally support, making it an intense and all-out election battle.

Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the 22nd, except in some areas, and ballots will be counted on the same day.

NHK will provide live coverage of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election vote count on General TV from 7:59 p.m. on the 22nd, and on Radio 1 from 7:55 p.m.

We will also post the winners and projected winners for all electoral districts, as well as the latest vote counting status, on the special website.