Official campaigning for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election started Friday, with all eyes on whether Gov. Yuriko Koike's fledging party will secure a majority with political forces close to her at the expense of the current largest force, the Liberal Democratic Party.

The July 2 election comes on the heels of her announcement that the metropolitan government will proceed with the relocation of the famed Tsukiji fish market to a nearby waterfront district while redeveloping the market site over the next five years, after the relocation plan had stalled over pollution concerns at the new site.

On Friday Koike intensified her campaign against the LDP, pledging to reform an opaque decision-making process in the assembly, where LDP members make up the largest force and have held large sway over budgets and other policy matters.

"We no longer want an old assembly that has been hiding things, she said in a stump speech at the busy "scramble crossing" in front of Shibuya Station. "This is an opportunity to rebuild it."

For its part, the LDP is struggling to remain the leading party in the assembly amid a plunge in popular support for the Cabinet headed by its leader, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, due to the government's handling of controversial "conspiracy" legislation to penalize the planning of a range of crimes, as well as allegations of favoritism leveled against him in relation to a veterinary school construction project.

Abe told reporters in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, where he is attending a ceremony marking the end of the fierce World War II ground battle there, that his party aims to retain as many seats as possible.

The ruling coalition of the LDP and the Komeito party pushed the conspiracy bill through parliament last week by bypassing a House of Councillors committee vote. Abe has also been under fire over claims that he swayed a decision on a university project to benefit a close friend.

With each party attaching importance to the assembly election in the nation's capital as a weathervane for a future national election, a total of 258 people, with a record 65 women, have filed their candidacies to vie for the 127 assembly seats.

The LDP has officially endorsed 60 candidates, with Koike's Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First party) fielding 50, the Japanese Communist Party endorsing 37, and the Democratic Party and Komeito each backing 23, among other parties.

Komeito is the LDP's coalition partner in national politics but is forming an alliance with Tomin First no Kai in the Tokyo election.

Currently, the LDP holds 57 seats in the assembly, followed by Komeito with 22 and the Japanese Communist Party with 17. The Democratic Party has seven and Tomin First holds six.

Among other issues expected to be contested are how to proceed with preparations for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, and measures to reduce the number of children on nursery waiting lists.