Japan’s Ruling Party Wins 1 But Loses 1 in Sunday’s Diet By-Elections

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, October 23, 2023

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party won one by-election but lost one of the two races for both chambers of the Diet being held on Sunday.

In the House of Representatives’ Nagasaki No. 4 Constituency, LDP candidate Yozo Kaneko defeated Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan candidate Seiichi Suetsugu.

In the Tokushima-Kochi Constituency of the House of Councillors, Hajime Hirota, an opposition-backed independent candidate, defeated LDP candidate Ken Nishiuchi.

The by-elections were viewed as a litmus test of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s strength in general elections.