LDP LOSES 3 SEATS IN JAPAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost all three seats up for grabs in Japanese parliamentary elections Sunday, dealing a significant blow to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as he considers the timing of a general election that must be held by this fall, Sayo Sasaki reported for Kyodo News.

The results of the first national elections since Suga took office in September last year reflect voters' discontent with the government's coronavirus response as well as scandals that bought about two of the elections and are likely to bring Suga's leadership into question.

Candidates backed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan won a re-held House of Councilors election in the Hiroshima constituency, an upper house by-election in the Nagano constituency, and a House of Representatives by-election for the No. 2 single-seat district in Hokkaido.

"Voters passed a severe judgment on the Suga Cabinet," said CDPJ secretary-general Tetsuro Fukuyama. "It is the result of a buildup of people's discontent over scandals involving politics and money and the novel coronavirus response."

The elections in Hiroshima and Hokkaido were called as then-LDP lawmakers vacated the seats over vote-buying and bribe-taking scandals. "We will reflect seriously on the voters' judgment," Taimei Yamaguchi, the LDP's election campaign chief, said at the party's headquarters.

Political analysts view the two upper house polls in which the LDP fielded a candidate as a bellwether for a general election Suga could call before his term as LDP president -- and hence his time as prime minister -- expires on Sept. 30. The four-year term of lower house members ends on Oct. 21.

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