Tokyo voters punish Japan's ruling party before national polls

Voters in Tokyo knocked Japan's ruling party from its position as the largest group in the city assembly, according to results on June 23, a warning sign for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's unpopular government before the July general election.

- 

TOKYO -

Japanese media said it was a record-low result in the key local ballot for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has led the country almost continuously since 1955.

Public support for Mr Ishiba, who took office in October 2024, has been at rock bottom for months, partly because of high inflation, with rice prices doubling over the past year.

The LDP took 21 Tokyo assembly seats in the June 22 vote, including three won by candidates previously affiliated with the party but not officially endorsed following a political funding scandal.

This breaks the party's previous record low of 23 seats from 2017, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily and other local media.

Mr Ishiba described the results as a "very harsh judgment".

"We will study what part of our campaign pledge failed to resonate with voters and ensure we learn from this," he told reporters on June 23.