With favoritism allegations piling up and his Cabinet’s credibility crumbling, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party is facing a stiff challenge in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.
A slew of alleged misdeeds and scandals implicating Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to turn the campaign for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly Election, which kicked off Friday, into the toughest battle his ruling party has seen in recent years.
The allegations, including ethics violations and a rape cover-up, plus public discontent over the underhanded steamrolling of the unpopular conspiracy bill through the Diet, are complicating the conservative Liberal Democratic Party’s bid to defend its power in the assembly.
The LDP already has its hands full fighting the new party headed by popular Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.
Koike’s Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First) is threatening to dethrone the LDP on its vows to “shake up” a metropolitan assembly it says has long been crippled by corruption, vested interests and opacity.
“Unfortunately, what has happened in national politics is bound to have a detrimental impact on our standing in the upcoming Tokyo election, ” veteran lawmaker Hakubun Shimomura, who doubles as Chairman of the Federation of Tokyo Metropolitan LDP Branches, admitted at a news conference in Tokyo earlier this week.
“This is technically a local race, but history shows that the outcome of the Tokyo assembly election has always affected the direction of national politics. So we must do well, ” he said.
Friday saw a total of 259 candidates join the race for the 127 seats up for grabs.
Koike’s fledgling party has already found an ally in Komeito, which parted ways with the Tokyo chapter of the LDP last year after years of partnership. And a decisive victory would pose an unwelcome development to Abe amid growing speculation that Tomin First will make a foray into national politics.
For the LDP, the timing couldn’ t be worse.
Opinion polls over the weekend found support plunging for Abe’s Cabinet due to the unabating Kake Gakuen scandal — in which Abe allegedly used his influence to facilitate the opening of a new veterinary department at a university run by his longtime friend Kotaro Kake — and the way in which his ruling coalition used a procedural shortcut to force the contentious conspiracy bill through the Diet last week.
An alleged rape victim who has only identified herself by her first name, Shiori, recently came forward with an allegation that a high-profile journalist with close ties to Abe assaulted her but avoided indictment, sparking speculation that the government intervened to quash the case.
