Three by-elections to fill vacant seats in the House of Representatives will be held on April 28, it was announced Friday, with a political funds scandal eroding public trust in Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Official campaigning for the first national elections since the funds scandal was unveiled late last year is scheduled to start on April 16, with approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet having plunged to their lowest levels since it was launched in October 2021.
The LDP has come under intense scrutiny amid allegations that some of its factions, including the biggest one formerly led by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, failed to report portions of their incomes from fundraising parties for years and created slush funds.
Recently, Kishida's government and ruling party have been also criticized by the opposition bloc, after a prefectural chapter of the LDP hosted a party for its junior members, at which female dancers in revealing dresses were in attendance.
Kishida said at a parliamentary session on Friday that the event was "truly inappropriate," indicating that he has instructed his LDP to thoroughly investigate why the prefectural chapter organized such a party.
Up for grabs are seats in the Tokyo No. 15 district, the Shimane No. 1 district and the Nagasaki No. 3 district, all of which were held by LDP lawmakers before they became vacant.
The LDP has yet to put forward a candidate in either Tokyo or Nagasaki. In Shimane, meanwhile, the race is set to be a one-on-one battle with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
The by-election in Tokyo is being held after a former senior vice justice minister resigned as lawmaker after being arrested in violation of the election law. The Nagasaki seat became vacant after an LDP lawmaker stepped down over the funds scandal.
The by-election in Shimane follows the death in November of Hiroyuki Hosoda, a former lower house speaker. The LDP heavyweight previously headed the LDP's largest faction at the center of the scandal.
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