Ruling, Opposition Parties Submit Bill to Amend Public Offices Election Law; Decency of Election Posters a Focus of Change

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:45 JST, February 20, 2025

The ruling and opposition parties jointly submitted a bill to amend the Public Offices Election Law to the House of Representatives on Thursday. It aims to introduce a provision for decency regarding election campaign posters.

The parties involved included the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Innovation Party.

The bill requires campaign posters to clearly show candidates’ names and prohibits the inclusion of content that would damage the reputation of other people or political parties. It also introduces a fine of up to ¥1 million for those who use the posters as commercial advertisements or promotions.

With a focus on those who run in elections primarily to support another candidate, the bill’s supplementary provisions state “necessary measures” would be taken after examining “the status of the preservation of fairness among candidates.” The provisions also state that the use of social media in election campaigns would be examined in the future.

The ruling and opposition parties are aiming to pass the bill by the end of March.

The new provision on posters would have a one-month notification period and is expected to apply to the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election in June and the House of Councillors election this summer.