The election campaign for the upper house elections, which will largely determine the future of the country’s ruling bloc led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has officially started in Japan.
The elections will be held on July 20. The term of office of members of the upper house of parliament is six years, with elections held every three years: only half of the chamber’s 248 seats are re-elected. The ruling coalition of the LDP, led by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and the Komeito Party currently has a majority (140). However, after a disastrous performance in the elections to the key lower house of parliament in the fall of 2024 and extremely low support ratings for both the government and the ruling party, local analysts are inclined to believe that Ishiba will face another failure. In 2024, the LDP under his leadership had already lost its majority in the lower house, which forced it to form a minority government, which was considered unstable by default.
