Tokyo poll drubbing a warning sign to Abe
Print Edition
PRIME Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party suffered an historic defeat in an election in the Japanese capital yesterday, signalling trouble ahead for the premier, who has suffered from slumping support because of a favoritism scandal.
On the surface, the Tokyo Metropolitan assembly election was a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike’s year in office, but the dismal showing for Abe’s party is also a stinging rebuke of his four-and-a-half-year-old administration.
Koike’s Tokyo Citizens First party and its allies were on track for between 73 to 85 seats in the 127-seat assembly, according to exit polls by NHK TV.
Later vote counts showed the LDP was certain to post its worst-ever result, winning at most 37 seats compared with 57 before the election, NHK said, while Koike’s party and allies were assured a majority.
“We must recognize this as an historic defeat,” former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba was quoted by NHK as saying.
“Rather than a victory for Tokyo Citizens First, this is a defeat for the LDP,” said Ishiba, widely seen as an Abe rival within the ruling party.
Past Tokyo elections have been bellwethers for 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 the next lower house poll is only due by late 2018.
Koike, an ex-defense minister and former LDP member, took office a year ago as the first female governor in the capital, promising to reform governance of a megacity with a population of 13.7 million and an economy bigger than Holland’s.
Among her allies is the Komeito party, the LDP’s national coalition partner.
“I am excited but at the same time, I am also keenly aware of the weight of my responsibility,” said Koike adding the results exceeded her expectations.
The strong showing by Koike’s party will fuel speculation that she will bid for the nation’s top job, though that may not be until after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It could also widen cracks between the LDP and Komeito and damage prospects for the opposition Democratic Party.
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