Upper House Election: Democratic Party for the People Makes Major Gains on Support from Working-Age Population, Younger Generations

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:40 JST, July 21, 2025

The Democratic Party for the People achieved its target of winning 16 seats in the Sunday’s House of Councillors election, backed by its pledge to boost support for the working-age population.

Including five seats that were not contested in this election, the party now has a total of 21 seats — enough to submit budget related bills to the upper house.

“Voters put their expectations on us as the party with the future-oriented growth strategy,” said party leader Yuichiro Tamaki during a TV program on Sunday night.

With its slogan, “Increase your take-home pay this summer,” the DPFP campaigned on the pledge to raise the taxable income threshold to ¥1.78 million. The party also called for policies on foreigners, such as regulating land purchases and strengthening tax measures.

The DPFP expanded its seats in the most recent House of Representatives election. In opinion polling, the DPFP temporarily surpassed leading opposition party Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in party support. However, due to issues when fielding a candidate for the proportional representation segments, popularity had plummeted.

In addition to support from private-sector industrial unions affiliated with the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the party attracted votes primarily from younger generations through social media engagement.