Prefectural elections for the

Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Tokyo Metropolis. Its 127 members are elected every four years in 42 districts by single non-transferable vote. 23 electoral districts equal the special wards, another 18 districts are made up by the cities, ...

were held on 12 July 2009. In the runup to the Japanese general election due by October they were seen as an important test for

Taro Aso Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Afric ...

's ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the

New Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...

. New Komeito considers Tokyo as an important stronghold and had repeatedly asked Prime Minister Aso to avoid holding the two elections within a month of each other. Campaigning officially started on July 3, 2009. The prefecture's 10.6 million registered voters (up 230,000 from 2005) were called upon to elect the 127 Assembly members in 42 electoral districts at 1,868 polling stations across Tokyo. 221 candidates had been formally registered with the Tokyo metropolitan electoral commission. The LDP and the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

(DPJ) each endorsed 58 candidates, the

Japan Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

(JCP) supports 40 and New Komeito formally fields 23 candidates, though it has also decided to support LDP candidates in several districts. Local campaign issues included Tokyo's bid for the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

and governor

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...

's plan to relocate the

Tsukiji fish market is a major tourist attraction for both domestic and overseas visitors in Tokyo. The area contains retail markets, restaurants, and associated restaurant supply stores. Before 2018, it was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the wor ...

in 2012. The national debate over a possible ban of "hereditary" (, ''seshū'') politicians has also affected several candidates. Tokyo's legislative election is one of only three elections for prefectural parliaments countrywide that are not held in the "unified regional election" (''tōitsu chihō senkyo'', last round: 2007), the other two being

Ibaraki Ibaraki may refer to any of the following places in Japan: * Ibaraki Prefecture, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan **Ibaraki, Ibaraki, a town in Ibaraki Prefecture **Ibaraki Airport, an airport in Omitama, Ibaraki **Ibaraki dialect, the dialect sp ...

's and

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

's prefectural assembly elections.

Results

Polls closed at 8:00 pm

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred t ...

. Turnout was significantly up from 2005 and stood at 54.5 percent. The DPJ picked up 20 seats and saw 54 of their 58 candidates elected. The LDP lost its status as strongest party in the Metropolitan Assembly for the first time since 1965. Despite strong results for coalition partner Kōmeitō, the ruling camp could not defend an absolute majority (64 seats). The only electoral district where an LDP candidate received the most votes (''top tōsen'') was the single-member zu and Ogasawaraislands electoral district of former assembly president Chūichi Kawashima, a native of Ōshima town who had represented the islands since 1985. , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , Parties ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , Candidates ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Seats , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

(民主党, ''Minshutō'') , style="text-align:right;" , 58 , style="text-align:right;" , 2,298,494 , style="text-align:right;" , 40.79 , style="text-align:right;" , 54 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Liberal Democratic Party of Japan The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a conservativeThe Liberal Democratic Party is widely described as conservative: * * * * * political party in Japan. The LDP has been in power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955—a per ...

(自由民主党, ''Jiyū Minshutō'') , style="text-align:right;" , 58 , style="text-align:right;" , 1,458,108 , style="text-align:right;" , 25.88 , style="text-align:right;" , 38 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

New Komeito Party , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...

(公明党, ''Kōmeitō'') , style="text-align:right;" , 23 , style="text-align:right;" , 743,427 , style="text-align:right;" , 13.19 , style="text-align:right;" , 23 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a dem ...

(日本共産党, ''Nihon Kyōsan-tō'') , style="text-align:right;" , 40 , style="text-align:right;" , 707,602 , style="text-align:right;" , 12.56 , style="text-align:right;" , 8 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Tokyo Seikatsusha Network The Tokyo Seikatsusha Network (東京・生活者ネットワーク, ''Tōkyō Seikatsusha Nettowāku'') is a local Japanese political party affiliated with Tokyo Seikatsu Club, a consumer's cooperative. It is generally moderate left, and tend ...

(東京・生活者ネットワーク) , style="text-align:right;" , 5 , style="text-align:right;" , 110,407 , style="text-align:right;" , 1.96 , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(社民党 ''Shamin-tō'') , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , style="text-align:right;" , 20,084 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.36 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Others , style="text-align:right;" , 13 , style="text-align:right;" , 45,329 , style="text-align:right;" , 0.80 , style="text-align:right;" , 0 , - , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , style="text-align:right;" , 22 , style="text-align:right;" , 250,869 , style="text-align:right;" , 4.45 , style="text-align:right;" , 2 , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9", Total (turnout 54.49%) , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9" , 221 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 5,705,441 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 100.00 , style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 127 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan=5 , Source: Tokyo electoral commissio

Aftermath

The president of the LDP's Tokyo prefectural federation, one of governor Ishihara's then two sons in the national House of Representatives, Nobuteru Ishihara, Nobuteru, initially hinted to step down as LDP Tokyo chief, but eventually stayed on. Nationally, Tarō Asō came under pressure within his party to resign immediately as party president-prime minister, but could avoid a leadership challenge by calling the general election of the House of Representatives early – the election on August 30 resulted in a landslide loss for the ruling coalition. Democrat Ryō Tanaka from

Suginami is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Suginami City in English. As of June 1, 2022, Suginami has an estimated population of 588,354 and a population density of 17,274 persons per km2. The total ...

was elected assembly president, Kantarō Suzuki (Kōmeitō, Arakawa) became vice president. The assembly majority in the new assembly is often involved in disputes with governor Ishihara over the budget, the Tsukiji relocation and other issues.The Japan Times, October 23, 2010
Tsukiji to relocate to Toyosu: Ishihara. DPJ ranks vow to block budget for shift to toxic site
/ref> Yet, in the gubernatorial election of 2011 (part of the unified regional election), Ishihara was safely reelected for a fourth term.

References

External links

JANJAN ''JANJAN'' (), short for ''Japan Alternative News for Justices and New Cultures'' (), was a Japanese online newspaper started by Ken Takeuchi, journalist and former mayor of Kamakura, Kanagawa. Launched in February 2003, the newspaper is credited f ...

東京都議会議員選挙
{{Tokyo elections 2009 elections in Japan Tokyo prefectural elections July 2009 events in Japan 2009 in Tokyo