Shinzo Abe
Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍 晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...
was the overall victor, winning many races including all ten gubernatorial races and 1,153 of the 2,284 assembly seats at stake. Further elections for municipal mayors and assemblies took place on April 26.
In addition to indicating support for the Abe government, the elections were also seen as a referendum on the
Japan Innovation Party
The was a political party in Japan. It was launched on 22 September 2014, following the merger of the Japan Restoration Party headed by Tōru Hashimoto, and the Unity Party, led by Kenji Eda. On 27 March 2016 the party merged with the Democra ...
, and particularly on Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto's plan to restructure the Osaka prefectural government.
In the first stage, average turnout was estimated at 47.14%, the lowest in the history of Japanese unified elections and the first time that average turnout in unified elections fell below 50%. The total number of prefectural and designated city assembly candidates was also the lowest in history at 3,272, 501 of which (21.9% of seats) ran unopposed. The
Democratic Party of Japan
The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist:
*
*
*
*
*
*
* to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016.
The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...
fielded 345 candidates, 40% less than the number fielded in the 2011 local elections. Chiba Prefecture had the lowest overall turnout rate at 37%. In the second stage, a record low 9,519 candidates ran for 7,682 seats, and a record high 3.6% of assembly seats were won by default.
Results
Governors
*
Hokkaido
is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
: Incumbent
Harumi Takahashi
is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party and currently a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature). She served as governor of the prefecture of Hokkaido for four terms from 2003 to 2019. She gradu ...
(LDP) defeated DPJ-supported television anchor Noriyuki Sato in one of two gubernatorial races contested between the government and opposition parties.
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Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
Fukui Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gif ...
Mie Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture ...
Nara Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...
Tottori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hir ...
Shimane Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamag ...
:
Zenbee Mizoguchi
is a Japanese politician and former governor of Shimane Prefecture in Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on th ...
(LDP/NKP) re-elected
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Tokushima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the nort ...
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the southwest, Kumamo ...
Oita Prefecture
Oita often refers to:
*Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan
* Ōita (city), the capital of the prefecture
Oita or Ōita may also refer to:
Places
* Ōita District, Ōita, a former district in Ōita Prefecture, Japan
*Ōita Stadium, a multi-use stadi ...
: Incumbent
Katsusada Hirose
is the governor of Ōita Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 2003. A native of Hita, Ōita and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he had worked at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
The was a ministry of the Government of ...
(LDP/NKP) defeated DPJ-supported ex-Oita City mayor Ban Kugimiya.
2015 was the first year that
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
did not elect a governor in the unified elections, as the elections in 2012 (following Shintaro Ishihara's resignation) and 2014 (following Naoki Inose's resignation) moved Tokyo's gubernatorial election cycle away from the unified election cycle.
Mayoral elections
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Sapporo
( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous ci ...
: Former deputy mayor
Katsuhiro Akimoto
is a Japanese politician and the incumbent mayor of Sapporo, the largest and capital city of Hokkaido, Japan.Nana Honma in one of the few significant victories for the opposition bloc. Akimoto was supported by 12-year incumbent mayor
Fumio Ueda
is the former mayor of Sapporo, capital city of Hokkaido, Japan.
Ueda was born in Makubetsu, Hokkaido, and graduated from the law department of Chuo University in 1972. He became an attorney and opened a law practice in 1978. At various times he ...
and called for improving the city's attractiveness to businesses, while Honma advocated new infrastructure investments including an expansion of the municipal subway system.
*
Sagamihara
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...
:
Toshio Kayama
is a Japanese politician and the former mayor of Sagamihara a designated city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacifi ...
Hamamatsu
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
...
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in th ...
was uncontested for the first time in history, while the mayoral election in Tsu was uncontested for the first time in 37 years.
* In
Shibuya, Tokyo
Shibuya ( 渋谷 区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station.
As of April ...
, Ken Hasebe won the open contest for mayor following the retirement of Toshitake Kuwahara. Hasebe had previously submitted Shibuya's local ordinance permitting
same-sex civil union
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
Osaka City
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...
assemblies. However, it failed to win a majority in either assembly, and the LDP won additional seats in both assemblies, casting some doubt on the outcome of the scheduled May 17 referendum on the Osaka Metropolis plan.
* Two incumbents tied for an open seat in the Kumamoto City assembly with 4,515 votes each; the seat was to be decided by drawing lots.
*
Chiyoda, Tokyo
is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward located in central Tokyo, Japan. It is known as Chiyoda City in English language, English.
perennial candidate
A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...
Teruki Gotō
is a Japanese musician and perennial candidate
A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are ...
drew attention in international media by posing nude in his official election poster, with the characters of his name obscuring his genitals and with various nationalist icons in the background. The poster was deemed legal under both election and obscenity laws.
* Two deaf women were elected to city assemblies: Rie Saito of
Kita, Tokyo
is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is City of Kita. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947.
As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 340,287, and a ...
Hakuba, Nagano
is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 9,007 in 4267 households, and a population density of 48 persons per km2. The total area of the village is . Hakuba is an internationally renowned ...
from 2001 to 2005). The Kita assembly was reportedly considering using
speech recognition
Speech recognition is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and computational linguistics that develops methodologies and technologies that enable the recognition and translation of spoken language into text by computers with the ma ...
software to allow Saito to participate in debate, while the Akashi assembly was considering hiring a sign language interpreter.
References
{{Japanese elections
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...