Upper House Election: Party Leaders Make Final Appeals Ahead of Upper House Election; LDP-Komeito Majority’s Survival Key Focus of Speeches

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, July 19, 2025

Party leaders made their final appeals to voters on Saturday, the final day of campaigning for Sunday’s House of Councillors election.

With measures against rising prices being one of the key campaign issues, the upper house election is widely seen to be an evaluation of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, which was formed in October last year.

The focus of the election is whether the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito — which hold a minority coalition in the House of Representatives — can win a combined 50 seats in order to maintain their majority in the 248-seat upper chamber. There are 75 seats held by LDP and Komeito members that are not up for election this time around.

“The LDP will never make empty promises that sound good in the moment,” Ishiba, who is the president of the LDP, said at a campaign rally in front of JR Sendai Station. “If we did, the country would be ruined.” The prime minister wrapped up his Saturday campaign tour in Tokyo, where the LDP seeks to have its two candidates to secure seats.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda started Saturday campaigning in Niigata City. “This election will come down to whether opposition candidates can secure as many seats as possible in constituencies where only one seat is being contested,” Noda said. “Bringing down the LDP and Komeito majority [in the upper house] has become a real possibility.”

Noda ended his campaigning in Fukushima City. Four rookie candidates are facing a fierce battle with the incumbent LDP candidate in the Fukushima prefectural constituency where only one seat is up for grabs.

Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito stressed the need for the LDP-Komeito coalition to continue in Ageo, Saitama Prefecture. “In order to create a Japan in which people can live with peace of mind, the ruling parties have to stand firm,” Saito said.

Japan Innovation Party representative Hirofumi Yoshimura stood in front of JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Saturday. “Social insurance premiums are too high and reforms to lower them are absolutely necessary,” he said. Yoshimura wrapped up his campaigning in his home turf of Osaka.

In Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture, Japanese Communist Party chairperson Tomoko Tamura said, “Let’s force the LDP and Komeito into a minority [in the upper house, too] and pave the way for a new kind of politics.”

In front of Hakata Station in Fukuoka City, Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki said, “We want to change politics so that it prioritizes the working generations.”

Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya said in Yokohama, “We are always hanging on by a thread, so we want to ask for your help so that we can achieve a big victory.”

Reiwa Shinsengumi leader Taro Yamamoto held a rally in cities including Matsuyama and Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima spoke in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture. Conservative Party of Japan leader Naoki Hyakuta wrapped up his campaigning in front of Tokyo Station.