Tokyo voters headed to the polls yesterday in a day seen as a litmus test ahead of national elections that could give Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an uninterrupted three years without a public vote.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in partnership with the junior New Komeito, are expected to claim a comfortable majority in the 127-seat Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.
The ballot is widely being seen as an indicator of public opinion in the run up to upper house polls expected on July 21.
It will be the first voters’ verdict on Abe’s administration, which came to power in December last year and still enjoys approval ratings of more than 60 percent.
An economic policy blitz dubbed “Abenomics,” which blends massive monetary easing, big fiscal spending and a series of reforms aimed at freeing up businesses, has dominated the opening months of the Abe government.
Japan’s sleep-walking economy — the world’s third-largest — has been given a jolt by the moves, with the yen shedding some of its export-sapping strength and the stock market putting in the best performance in the developed world this year.
Despite a few weeks of wobbles that have seen the headline Nikkei 225 index loose some of its steam, many economists still feel Abenomics has legs.
If Abe can secure control of the upper house in next month’s polls, it will relieve a legislative bottleneck and give him free rein to push through the painful reforms commentators say Japan desperately needs.
Detractors say that with a majority in both houses, Abe will take his eye off the economic ball and push the conservative social agenda he was known for before the election, including a possible reassessment of Japan’s wartime history.
They say this risks further irritating already inflamed relationships with China and South Korea. The campaign in the Japanese capital has been relatively low key, with few issues of contention for Tokyo voters.
That is expected to mean a low turnout, giving a further boost to the establishment LDP, who have a solid support base.
The LDP’s main opponents, the Democratic Party of Japan, are currently the largest grouping in the assembly with 54 seats, but are in disarray after their national drubbing in December.
Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose, in whom the bulk of city power is vested, is not up for election, having won a four-year term in December.
Voting began at 7am and the polls closed at 8pm.
Broadcasters were expected to provide exit polls indicating the likely result shortly thereafter.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese