Suga's LDP could fall short in Tokyo local election as Olympics looms (updated)
04/07/2021 04:25
(Updates with latest projections, comments from ruling party
politician)
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, July 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide
Suga's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and allies are unlikely to
win outright a local election in Tokyo on Sunday seen as a key
test of voter sentiment ahead of national polls later this year,
public broadcaster NHK said.
A disappointing result could put pressure on Suga, whose
term as LDP president expires at the end of September. The head
of the LDP is virtually assured of being prime minister, given
the party's large majority in parliament.
NHK quoted Taimei Yamaguchi, chair of the LDP's election
strategy committee, as saying said his party and its junior
coalition partner Komeito looked set to fall short of an
outright majority in Tokyo's assembly.
"It appears our seats are likely to be a little bit lower
than what we have initially anticipated," Yamaguchi said.
Tokyo's election comes as the capital is preparing to host
the Olympic Games whilst dealing with a resurgence of COVID-19.
With a general election due by October, Suga has staked his
political career on successfully holding the Games, postponed
from last year due to the virus, and boosting vaccine rollouts.
He has said he will bar spectators if necessary. But exit
polls by broadcaster TBS showed 57% of respondents were still
opposed to the Olympics going ahead on July 23 as planned.
The Tokyo Citizens First party of Tokyo Governor Yuriko
Koike wants the Olympics held without spectators while the
opposition Constitutional Democrats and Communists have called
for the Games to be cancelled or postponed.
A resurgence of the pandemic in Japan has seen new COVID-19
infections in Tokyo rise to a more than five-week high, with 716
reported on Saturday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OF066
Voters on Sunday said COVID-19 remained their chief concern.
"My focus on this election was the pandemic measures," a
26-year-old actor, who is deaf, wrote in a note to a reporter
outside the polling station. He asked not to be named.
"I picked the candidate who would take actions to save
infected people, as I am afraid of losing my job and my income
if I get infected," he said, declining to name the candidate. "I
don't care about political parties."
Another voter was critical of the LDP's handling of the
pandemic.
"I wanted to give my vote to someone in the opposition as I
don't support the current (national) government," said Noriko
Ushimaru, a woman in her 80s. "They are hopeless in coronavirus
responses. I don't see their determination to curb the virus."
She said the holding the Tokyo Olympics amid the pandemic
and vaccine supply shortages were examples of the government's
inadequate anti-coronavirus measures.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Additional reporting by Yuka
Obayashi and Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Clarence Fernandez,
William Mallard, Elaine Hardcastle and Catherine Evans)
((kiyoshi.takenaka@thomsonreuters.com; +81 3 4563 2788;))