The election is a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike, but poor showing for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party will also be taken as rebuke of his administration
Voters in the Japanese capital cast ballots Sunday in an election that could spell trouble for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is suffering from slumping support because of a scandal over suspected favoritism for a friend doing business.
On the surface, the Tokyo Metropolitan assembly election is a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike’s year in office, but poor showing for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will also be taken as rebuke of his 4½-year-old administration.
Past Tokyo elections have been bellwethers to national trends. A 2009 Tokyo poll in which the LDP won just 38 seats was followed by its defeat in a general election that year, although this time no lower house poll need be held until late 2018.
Koike and reformist message
Koike, a media-savvy ex-defense minister and former LDP member pushing a reformist message, hopes her Tokyo Citizens First party and allies win a majority in the 127-member assembly, to end the LDP’s domination of the chamber.
Among her allies is the Komeito party, the LDP’s national coalition partner.
