Upper House Election: Japan’s 2025 Upper House Election to Kick Off Thursday; About 520 Candidates to Run for 125 Seats in House of Councillors

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:52 JST, July 2, 2025

Campaigning for the House of Councillors election will officially begin Thursday, with about 520 candidates running for 125 seats in the 248-seat upper house.

The 125 seats are made up of 74 prefectural constituency seats, 50 seats in the proportional representation section and one seat to fill a vacancy in a Tokyo electoral constituency.

With voting and ballot counting scheduled for July 20, economic measures against soaring prices will likely be a major point of contention in the 17-day campaign.

According to a Yomiuri Shimbun tally, about 520 candidates are expected to run as of Tuesday. The figure will likely be on par with the previous election in 2022, when 545 candidates ran in the election.

In last year’s House of Representatives election, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito fell short of the majority and became a minority coalition.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who also serves as LDP president, hopes the LDP and Komeito can win at least 50 seats in order to secure the 125 seats, which includes the 75 seats they hold that are not up for grabs this election, needed to maintain their majority in the upper house.

The outcome of the election could determine the fate of the Ishiba Cabinet. Opposition parties are actively fielding candidates in an attempt to break the ruling party’s majority. Thirty-two constituencies, where only one seat is up for grabs, will likely be key to the outcome of the election.