The passionate “Kakizawa Party” is also taking a wait-and-see attitude this time…What will happen to the voter turnout? Those who have already voted in the first half of the Tokyo 15th district special election for the House of Representatives: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

In the Tokyo 15th Ward (Koto Ward) by-election for the House of Representatives to be counted on the 28th, the Liberal Democratic Party decided to not win, and nine non-ruling party members are contesting. Supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party, which won the past two House of Representatives elections, have expressed uncertainty about where to vote, and voters critical of the administration have more options than ever before. Voter turnout is also likely to attract attention. (Rina Suzuki, Chitomo Miyake, Masanori Inoue)

◆”I guess you can’t decide until the very end…”

The 15th ward constitutes one single-seat constituency for the entire Koto ward. Voter turnout in the past three House of Representatives elections was in the low 50% range, exceeding that in Tokyo as a whole.

The number of voters in the first five days (17th to 21st) of early voting for the by-election was 13,699. Compared to the same period in the past House of Representatives elections, this was higher than in 2014 (8,171 people) and 2017 (11,294 people), but it was down 6,114 people from the previous House of Representatives election in 2021.

“I think everyone is undecided until the very end.” A 60-year-old shop owner said he was still thinking about where to vote.

◆“Defeat by default” Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito have not made any notable moves

The by-election was due to the resignation of former Deputy Minister of Justice Mizutoshi Kakizawa as a member of the Diet due to a violation of the Public Elections Act regarding the Koto Ward mayoral election. In the 15th ward, a strong support organization known as the “Kakizawa Party,” which started under her father, the late former Foreign Minister Koji Kakizawa, has been in full swing every election, but this time they are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Shota Sasai (22), an office worker who voted early, said, “It seems like there were a lot of people who were rooting for Mr. Kakizawa because of their local connections.I don’t know who to vote for because there are so many new people.” Isn’t it?” An 80-year-old man from the ward who also finished voting said, “The election won’t be exciting because the Liberal Democratic Party didn’t put forward a candidate.”

One Liberal Democratic Party official said, “I think there are people who say, “There’s no one to let us in” because we’re not active.” Komeito officials who have not decided on a stance along with the Liberal Democratic Party express a similar view.

◆The budget for the Koto Ward by-election is approximately 166 million yen.

In Koto Ward, elections were held following the unified election held in April last year, followed by the December mayoral election following the resignation of the previous mayor following an incident in which he violated the Public Elections Act. According to the ward election office, the ward mayor’s election last December cost about 158 ​​million yen. The budget for this by-election is approximately 166 million yen. A person in charge of the election commission is concerned about the drop in voter turnout, saying, “The by-election is not a hot topic nationwide.There may also be distrust in politics.”