Overview
- Japan’s Nago mayoral election was formally announced with three candidates, including incumbent Toguchi Takehiro backed by LDP, Ishin, Komeito and Kokumin, and opposition-backed Onoha/Onaga Kumiko, with Henoko relocation and rising prices as key issues ahead of the Jan. 25 vote.
- The Constitutional Democratic Party’s Hokkaido chapter said all 12 incumbents are expected to run under the new Centrist Reform Union alongside Komeito, after local leaders met in Sapporo and confirmed cooperation.
- LDP veteran and former Olympics minister Toshio Endo, 76, said he will not run in the next Lower House election, citing age and long service, and pointed to his son, a prefectural assembly member, as his local successor in Yamagata’s 1st district.
- Kokumin Minshu’s Shiga federation chose prefectural assembly leader Kawai Akinari for Shiga’s 1st district as the party HQ issued a provisional endorsement, while the LDP’s Fukuoka chapter entrusted selection for the 9th district to national headquarters.
- Hokuto’s mayoral race was officially filed as a head-to-head contest between former councilor Takamura Satoshi and incumbent Ikeda Tatsuo for a Jan. 25 vote, and Obihiro’s April mayoral election is shaping into a three-way race including incumbent Yonezawa Noritoshi.