2023-09-04 13:41:37
Former Constitutional Democratic Party member Taishi Sakai (55) was elected for the first time in the Tachikawa mayoral election on the 3rd following shaking off former Liberal Democratic Party member Koji Shimizu (57), who was recommended by the Liberal Democratic Party. The election campaign came as the relationship between the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, which had deteriorated due to the adjustment of candidates in Tokyo for the next House of Representatives election, was recovering. (Futoshi Okamoto)
◆The fact that “you can’t win if you don’t cooperate with yourself”
As a result, Sakai received 21,731 votes and Shimizu received 20,150 votes. Although Shimizu lost, he won nearly 3,000 more votes than the 17,000 to 18,000 votes that the LDP camp expected to consolidate alone.
A senior official of Sakai’s camp said, “It’s definitely a Komeito vote.” Mr. Shimizu himself said, “I believe that Komeito supporters also put in their votes.”
4 days following the announcement … Both party leaders agreed to cooperate
Komei decided to vote voluntarily in the mayoral election announced amid the ongoing confrontation between the two sides in Tokyo, and Shimizu was expected to face an uphill battle. However, on August 31, during the election period, the leaders of the Liberal Democratic Party reached a general agreement to revive election cooperation in Tokyo for the next House of Representatives election.
According to people involved in the matter, there was a movement to collect votes for Mr. Shimizu in a part of Komeito immediately following this. However, the desperate catch-up did not arrive due to the time running out.
Kitera, a former professor of political science at Meiji University, said that while it cannot be said that Komei and the LDP’s cooperation in the election has been fully restored, he said, “(In the Tachikawa mayoral election), ‘the LDP and Komeito cannot win without cooperation.’ The result was a show off, and I think the LDP and Komeito will accelerate their efforts to cooperate on the ground in the run-up to the House of Representatives election.”
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