Last Speeches Made On Eve Of Lower House Election; Japan’s Party Leaders Make Final Pitches To Public

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, October 27, 2024

Political party leaders made their final campaign pleas at many locations nationwide Saturday, the last day of campaigning for Sunday’s House of Representatives election.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, made his last stump speech in Koto Ward, Tokyo, on Saturday.

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, also took to the streets of Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward in a last-ditch effort to get out the vote that day.

Ishiba attended a memorial service for fallen members of the Self-Defense Forces held at the Defense Ministry on Saturday morning.

Having become aware that many candidates of the ruling parties are are facing close struggles against their opponents, Ishiba has expressed a sense of urgency in the final stages of the election campaign, saying: “The situation is extremely serious. We are at the critical moment as to whether or not we in the ruling parties will be able to win a majority.”

In the afternoon, he gave speeches at seven locations in Tokyo in an effort to boost votes. His final speech was held in Koto Ward, where a first-time candidate is locked in a close race with opposition candidates.

Noda began his last-day campaign tour in the areas affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake and torrential rains in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture.

He cited the situation in areas still affected by landslides and road closures, as he took the microphone shortly after 9 a.m.

“If we take power, we will create a supplementary budget for recovery and reconstruction of the areas within a month,” he said.

In the afternoon, he entered a hotly contested constituency in Tokyo and called for the need for a change of government.

Japan Innovation Party Secretary General Fumitake Fujita criticized the LDP’s political funding scandal at a campaign speech in Wakayama, saying, “We need to mete out justice to the LDP-Komeito coalition government to create a new political structure.”

JIP leader Nobuyuki Baba spent the day touring the party’s stronghold, the Kansai region, to strengthen its support base.

Komeito leader Keiichi Ishii has called for the continuation of the LDP-Komeito coalition government, saying, “Japanese politics would be thrown into chaos if the opposition took power.”

On the last day of the campaign, he focused all his efforts on supporting a Komeito candidate in the hotly contested Hokkaido Constituency No. 10.

Japanese Communist Party Chairperson Tomoko Tamura has intensified her criticism of the “politics and money” issue. After a series of canvassing stops in Tokyo, she ended her campaign with a speech at JR Shinjuku Station.

Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki, who has been campaigning on the platform of increasing take-home wages, made his final appeal at JR Tokyo Station after touring urban areas such as Fukuoka and Osaka.