Over 1,200 Candidates Vie for Seats After Delivering Final Street Speeches

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:50 JST, February 8, 2026

A total of 1,284 candidates ran in the House of Representatives election on Sunday. In constituencies, 1,119 people competed for 289 seats, while the proportional representation segment was contested by 914 candidates.

There were 749 candidates who were registered in both a constituency and the proportional representation race.

On Saturday, the final day of campaigning, party heads delivered their final street speeches, reiterating their policies on consumption tax cuts and economic measures to help people cope with rising prices, as well as their diplomatic and national security policies.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who is also president of the Liberal Democratic Party, spoke in Kita Ward, Tokyo.

“I presented a shift in economic and fiscal policies in [the LDP’s] election pledges. I want you to be the judge of this,” she said. “I will flip on every single switch toward economic growth. That’s responsible and proactive public finances. Tax revenues will continue to rise even though we won’t raise tax rates.”

Yoshihiko Noda, coleader of the Centrist Reform Alliance, criticized Takaichi’s economic policies during his speech in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.

“The Engel’s coefficient [in Japan] has risen to its highest point 44 years. We will make [the consumption tax on] food zero. We will accomplish this by the fall,” he said. The Engel’s coefficient indicates the percentage of household spending that goes toward food.

Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, said in Kyoto, “The LDP could not have made high school education free on its own.”

“I want you to let us be the propulsion, the engine, the accelerator, driving forward the agreement on a coalition government,” he told his supporters.

Yuichiro Tamaki, the leader of the Democratic Party for the People, urged voters in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, not to stop “a new trend in politics.”

“We want to raise the minimum taxable income level for the residence tax and further increase your net income,” he added. “We want to be a cheering squad for working people who are giving it their all.”