Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling party eked out wins in four of five Japanese by-elections held Sunday, public broadcaster NHK said, likely adding fuel to speculation that he will call an early election in the coming months.
The premier’s Liberal Democratic Party kept the three seats it previously held of the five, including the constituency in the southwestern prefecture of Yamaguchi vacated when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated last year. It also picked up a fourth, an upper house seat in Oita Prefecture, NHK said.
The victories are likely to add to momentum for Kishida to call a national election after hosting the Group of Seven summit May 19-21 in Hiroshima. Still, four of the races had been too close to call earlier and the LDP eventually won three of them with slim margins.
“We can call this a victory for the ruling parties,” Keiichi Ishii, the secretary general of the LDP’s coalition partner Komeito said. “I think there is some level of appreciation for the management of the government.”
An early general election could play into monetary policy, as the Bank of Japan would likely face pressure to avoid any changes during the campaign that could disrupt markets.
While Japan’s lower house term doesn’t end until 2025, renewing his mandate may help Kishida keep his party in line as he negotiates a series of difficult policy decisions. Among them are how the deeply indebted country will fund a pledged 60% increase in defense spending amid rising regional threats, as well as a planned doubling of outlays on children and families intended to stem a fall in the nation’s birthrate.
Support for Kishida’s cabinet has recovered in recent weeks, helped by his visit to Ukraine last month as well as progress toward a rapprochement with South Korea. His decision to carry on campaigning after an attempted pipe-bomb attack a week ago as he was about to speak in support of a candidate in Wakayama also nudged him higher in media polls. That seat went to the opposition Japan Innovation Party.
Among the LDP’s successful candidates was a 34-year-old woman of Uyghur heritage who has said she wants to break down the “old boys’ club” of Japanese politics. The multilingual Arfiya Eri, representing a constituency in Chiba, near Tokyo, will become one of a tiny number of naturalized Japanese lawmakers.
