Upcoming by-elections for the Shizuoka and Yamaguchi constituencies of the House of Councillors will be battles that could influence the outcome of the general election on Oct. 31.
Campaigning kicked off Thursday for the two by-elections, which are being held following the resignations of upper house members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is hoping to build momentum by defending the two seats in his first major test since the inauguration of his Cabinet.
Kishida delivered a speech at JR Shizuoka Station on Thursday to support the campaign of LDP candidate Yohei Wakabayashi. According to the candidate's camp, about 1,500 people turned up and many of them were aiming their smartphone cameras at the prime minister.
"This is the start of a very important election that is attracting nationwide attention. Lower house elections are also approaching. We would like to get your support to carve out our future."
Loud applause rippled through the crowd, reflecting the high level of interest in the "new face" of the LDP.
Kishida delivered his first policy speech at the Diet on Friday. In light of his busy schedule, the candidate's camp had asked Kishida to come to Shizuoka at the end of next week, but the prime minister was eager to be there on the first day of campaigning.
"They [LDP headquarters] are making more effort than we expected," said a campaign official, who claimed the visit had lifted morale in the camp.
Yuko Obuchi, chairperson of the LDP's Party Organization and Campaign Headquarters, and Yoshinori Oguchi, a lower house member and head of the prefectural headquarters of junior coalition partner Komeito, also attended the campaign event on Thursday, giving the impression that all-out efforts are being made.
The voting and ballot counting of the by-elections will be held on Oct. 24, one week before polling day for the lower house election.
The LDP hopes to build support through activities that are linked with lower house representatives from the prefectures.
"Our lower house members are also running around in their constituencies. The current situation is similar to a simultaneous election [for both houses of the Diet]," said Takumi Nemoto, secretary general of the Kishida faction.
It is believed the ruling parties gain the advantage when there are simultaneous upper and lower house elections, as industry groups and business organizations get more involved in support gathering activities.
However, with the approval rating of the Kishida Cabinet at 56% in a Yomiuri Shimbun survey conducted on Oct. 4 and 5, concerns have been raised. It was 74% at the start of the previous Cabinet led by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
A former Cabinet minister said the election will be a "real test of his strength."
--Governor vs ruling parties
In the Shizuoka gubernatorial election held in June, a former upper house member of the LDP was defeated by the incumbent governor, Heita Kawakatsu.
Kawakatsu, who is in his fourth term as Shizuoka governor, is backing Shinnosuke Yamazaki, an independent candidate who is supported by both the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP).
Yamazaki did not refer to the CDPJ or the DPFP in his stump speech on Thursday. Kawakatsu, who attended the campaign launch event, praised the candidate, saying, "I am the self-proclaimed leader of the prefectural party of the people, and Yamazaki is its secretary general."
The emphasis on the "prefectural party of the people" may reflect the lack of a unified front by the parties that have endorsed Yamazaki.
DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki and Secretary General Kazuya Shimba attended the kick-off event but no senior officials from the CDPJ were present.
The opposition parties were unable to unite to field a single candidate, with Chika Suzuki standing for the Japanese Communist Party (JCP).
The CDPJ and JCP have said they will form a "united front" for the lower house elections, which has riled the DPFP.
Senior officials of the CDPJ refrained from extending their support to Yamazaki on the first day of his campaigning because "they wanted to avoid friction with the JCP," speculated a senior official of Yamazaki's camp.
-- Rivalry over appeals
The opposition parties were not able to field a unified candidate for the by-election for the Yamaguchi constituency, either.
The CDPJ, with its prefectural chapter taking a pivotal role, unsuccessfully tried to field Hideo Hiraoka, who served as justice minister under the administration led by the then-Democratic Party of Japan.
In the end, the JCP managed to field Kiyo Kawai just eight days before the official campaigning kicked off.
Meanwhile, the camp for LDP candidate Tsuneo Kitamura said, "We want to win by a large margin and gain momentum for the lower house election."
Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura and former Cabinet minister Yoshimasa Hayashi gave speeches at Kitamura's campaign launch event.
Kawamura and Hayashi have been sparring over party endorsement for the lower house Yamaguchi No. 3 constituency candidacy.
As the by-election will give them a chance to surround themselves with voters, their rivalry is likely to heat up during the campaign.
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