Japanese premier calls for service to voters after winning crucial local polls

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday urged his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to focus on delivering for voters to guarantee victory in the forthcoming national and local elections, a day after the ruling camp won a key gubernatorial race.

"We have to continue bracing ourselves" for a challenge while listening to voices of encouragement and hope for the LDP and the ruling coalition including its junior partner Komeito, Kishida told reporters at his office, according to local Kyodo News Agency.

The LDP candidates emerged victorious in Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido and southwestern prefecture of Oita in gubernatorial polls held on Sunday.

The ruling party candidates, nonetheless, lost races to candidates pitched by the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) in the western prefectures of Osaka and Nara, a stomping ground of the opposition party.

The results, according to political analysts, reflect Kishida's efforts to underpin the approval ratings of his Cabinet with achievements on the diplomatic stage before he hosts a Group of Seven summit in May in his constituency of Hiroshima.

Along with nine gubernatorial elections, mayoral races in six major cities and local assembly polls in 41 prefectures and 17 big cities were also held on Sunday as part of the first round of quadrennial unified local elections.

In the 41 prefectural assembly races, the LDP won 1,153 of the 2,260 seats up for grabs, on a percentage basis on par with its performance in the previous polls in 2019.

The JIP has won 124 seats, which are more than double its constituencies in the 2019 elections. The party had won 57 seats in the last elections, the news agency reported.

The second round of the local polls, conducted every four years to cut administrative costs and raise voter turnout, will be held on April 23 to elect mayors and assembly members in other municipalities across Japan.

By-elections for five vacant seats in parliament are also slated to be held on the same day.