Upper House Election: Japan’s Upper House Election Campaign Officially Begins; All Eyes on Whether Ruling Bloc Can Maintain Majority

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:08 JST, July 3, 2025

Campaigning for the upcoming House of Councillors election began Thursday and will continue until the day before the polls open on July 20.

Economic measures to counter prolonged high prices will be a key issue in the election, with the ruling and opposition parties debating the matter.

Attention will be focused on whether the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito can secure 50 seats or more and thereby keep their majority in the upper house.

The House of Councillors has 248 seats, and half are up for election every three years for a six-year term. This time, 125 seats will be up for grabs: 74 prefectural constituency seats, 50 for the proportional representation section and one seat to fill a vacancy in a Tokyo electoral constituency.