Ruling and opposition parties began preparing for the House of Representatives election following the dissolution of the lower house on Thursday.
The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito are aiming to build on public expectations following the inauguration of the Cabinet led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, while opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan have set their sights on unseating the ruling parties.
"The fact that the administration has dissolved the lower house immediately after its inauguration means the Kishida Cabinet wants to directly gauge the opinion of the public," LDP Secretary General Akira Amari told reporters at the Diet building on Thursday.
Amari also warned against the moves of opposition parties such as the CDPJ and the Japanese Communist Party, which are planning to cooperate in the lower house election.
"It's a choice between two kinds of government, one that operates under the ideology of liberal democracy, and one that would involve giving power to communists for the first time," Amari said.
"This election is about how to rebuild a society and economy that have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and who will rebuild it," said Natsuo Yamaguchi, the leader of the LDP's junior coalition partner Komeito.
Meanwhile, CDPJ leader Yukio Edano said, "It has become clear that the Kishida Cabinet is no different from the administration of former prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga, and cannot change."
Edano, who is poised to pursue problems with the government's coronavirus measures and economic policies in the CDPJ campaign, added, "The Kishida administration cannot disavow the 'Abenomics' economic stimulus strategy and will not be able to restore the economy."
Akira Koike, head of the secretariat of the JCP, said, "Opposition parties have basically achieved the task of unifying our candidates and are ready to fight."
Nobuyuki Baba, secretary general of Nippon Ishin no Kai, said his colleagues are "ready to run toward the big goal of major reform across the country."
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