The 2023 Japanese unified local elections were held across the country on 9 and 23 April 2023. In total 15,047 candidates were elected in 1,008 races with a high of 1,685 in Hokkaido and a low of 1 in Okinawa.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) scored a comfortable victory. Six LDP (and Komei) endorsed candidates won the governorship. The LDP also managed to win more than half of all the prefectural assembly seats in the prefecture that held elections.

Major victories were also won by Nippon Ishin no Kai. In addition to winning in its home base of Osaka, Ishin also won the contest for governor of Nara and increased the number of seats it now holds in neighboring prefectures. The party secured majorities in the Osaka prefectural and municipal assemblies for the first time ever, and they even took home six seats in the Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly.

Turnouts this month were at record lows for all elections with the exception of the Hakodate mayoral contest and mayoral and assembly races in Tokyo wards which were higher than the last election but still did not top 50%.

This maintains a pattern in Japan, where fewer and fewer people are casting ballots ever since the LDP took back control in 2012.

Background

LDP's declining popularity and Kishida's attempts to rebound it Since the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, the historically dominant LDP began to face strong criticism over its link to the Unification Church. Abe's murderer Tetsuya Yamagami had claimed that his family was bankrupted by the church. Soon after the assassination, the Japanese media ventured into investigations which unearthed pervasive links between some of the LDP's senior politicians and the church, leading to a decline in the LDP's approval.

However, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ramped up efforts to salvage his party's reputation. He promised to double defense spending and held a meeting with the South Korean President. He also paid a surprise visit to Ukraine. These foreign and defense policy achievements bolstered his approval rating.

Candidate shortage

One of the most critical issues of this election was a shortage of candidates. 556 candidates in nearly 40% of the districts ran uncontested. This reflected the increasingly dysfunctional nature of Japanese society due to its rapid population decline.

April elections by prefecture in Stage 1 and 2 Source:

1008 elections were held across all prefectures. The number of elections held by prefecture varied greatly from a low of one in Toyama and Okinawa prefectures to a high of 177 in the prefecture of Hokkaido which was by far the largest number.

Stage 1 on 9 April featured the following elections: Prefectural governor Prefectural assembly Designated major city mayor Designated major city assembly 9 41 6 16

Stage 2 on 23 April featured the following elections: City mayor City assembly Special ward mayor Special ward assembly Town mayor Town assembly Village mayor Village assembly 88 306 12 21 97 296 28 88

This is the total list of all elections held on 9 and 23 April broken down by prefecture and position: Prefecture 9 April 2023 Elections 23 April 2023 Elections 都道府県 Prefecture Governor Assembly Designated major city Other city Special ward Town Village Total by Prefecture mayor assembly mayor assembly mayor assembly mayor assembly mayor assembly 愛知県 Aichi 1 1 6 23 2 12 1 2 48 秋田県 Akita 1 1 2 2 6 青森県 Aomori 1 1 4 1 11 6 24 千葉県 Chiba 1 1 4 17 1 5 29 愛媛 Ehime 1 1 2 福井県 Fukui 1 1 1 3 3 9 福岡県 Fukuoka 1 1 3 14 7 15 41 福島県 Fukushima 1 3 2 2 4 12 岐阜県 Gifu 1 4 10 3 7 1 1 27 群馬県 Gunma 1 2 8 3 8 3 6 31 広島県 Hiroshima 1 1 1 2 3 1 2 11 北海道 Hokkaido 1 1 1 1 11 27 31 86 4 14 177 兵庫県 Hyogo 1 1 3 9 1 2 17 茨城県 Ibaraki 3 13 2 3 1 1 23 石川県 Ishikawa 1 2 5 1 5 14 岩手県 Iwate 1 1 1 3 6 香川県 Kagawa 1 2 5 4 12 鹿児島 Kagoshima 1 3 2 4 1 11 神奈川県 Kanagawa 1 1 1 3 3 10 2 5 26 高知県 Kochi 1 3 2 7 1 3 17 熊本県 Kumamoto 1 1 1 4 7 10 1 3 28 京都府 Kyoto 1 1 3 6 2 13 三重県 Mie 1 2 4 2 2 11 宮城県 Miyagi 1 1 1 1 4 宮崎県 Miyazaki 1 7 3 6 1 3 21 長野県 Nagano 1 2 7 3 13 4 15 45 長崎県 Nagasaki 1 2 3 2 5 13 奈良県 Nara 1 1 3 6 1 11 3 7 33 新潟県 Niigata 1 1 1 5 2 3 13 大分県 Oita 1 1 2 7 1 1 13 岡山 Okayama 1 1 2 1 2 7 沖縄県 Okinawa 1 1 大阪府 Osaka 1 1 1 1 10 17 4 35 佐賀県 Saga 1 3 1 3 8 埼玉県 Saitama 1 1 2 20 1 12 37 滋賀県 Shiga 1 4 1 2 8 島根県 Shimane 1 1 1 1 4 静岡県 Shizuoka 1 2 1 1 7 3 6 21 栃木県 Tochigi 1 1 5 2 5 14 徳島県 Tokushima 1 1 1 2 4 5 1 15 東京都 Tokyo 4 20 12 21 1 2 1 4 65 鳥取県 Tottori 1 1 2 1 1 6 富山県 Toyama 1 1 和歌山県 Wakayama 1 3 1 5 10 山形県 Yamagata 1 1 6 8 1 1 18 山口県 Yamaguchi 1 1 2 2 6 山梨県 Yamanashi 1 2 4 1 1 1 5 15 Total Positions 9 41 6 16 88 306 12 21 97 296 28 88 1008

Results

Stage 1: 9 April The LDP secured a comfortable victory in the elections. It won six of the nine gubernatorial races that were in play. Particularly pleasing for the party was its victory in Hokkaido, where the centre-left party CDP had been historically strong. The LDP however failed to do well in Western Japan, notably in Osaka and Nara.

The Japan Innovation Party's victory also attracted significant attention, with political analysts predicting a strong future for it in the second round of local elections and at the national stage.

Voter turnout for the all the gubernatorial elections was 46.8% while the average voter turnout for the mayoral elections in designated cities was 46.6%.

Voter turnout

Gubernatorial Elections Hokkaido Kanazawa Fukui Osaka Nara Tottori Shimane Tokushima Oita Total 51.7% 40.4% 51.1% 47.0% 54.8% 48.8% 55.0% 54.6% 51.5% 46.8%

Designated City Mayoral Elections Sapporo Sagamihara Shizuoka Hamamatsu Osaka Hiroshima Total 51.0% 45.5% 45.6% 49.4% 48.3% 34.5% 46.6%

Governors LDP=Liberal Democratic Party CDP=Constitutional Democratic Party Komeito=Komei JCP=Japan Communist Party NIK=Nippon Ishin no Kai (also refers to Osaka Ishin no Kai) DPFP=Democratic Party for the People SDP=Social Democratic Party, Sanseito=Sansei, Seijika Joshi 48 Party=48

* denotes prefectural chapter

Turnout (%)PartyEndorsed by (Recommended by)CandidateVotes%Fukui Prefecture51.08IndLDP, CDP, KomeiTatsuji Sugimoto282,09789.6JCPYukie Kanemoto32,77810.4Hokkaido51.70IndLDP, Komeito, NPDNaomichi Suzuki1,692,43675.6IndCDP (JCP, *DPFP, SDP, Netto Hokkaido)Maki Ikeda479,67821.4IndYoshio Monbetsu40,5791.8IndDaisuke Mihara24,9781.1Kanagawa Prefecture40.35Ind*LDP, *Komei, *DPFPYuji Kuroiwa1,933,75367.6IndJCPMakiko Kishi651,47322.848Ayaka Otsu151,3615.3IndKenichiro Kato123,9224.3Nara Prefecture54.82IshinMakoto Yamashita266,40444.4Ind*CDPShou Hiraki196,72932.8Ind*DPFPShōgo Arai97,03316.2IndJCPItsuzō Oguchi19,8613.3IndNobuko Nishiguchi13,0342.2IndTakashi Hatano6,8061.1Ōita Prefecture51.45IndLDP, *KomeitoKiichiro Sato271,40057.3IndKiyoshi Adachi202,62342.7Osaka Prefecture46.98Osaka IshinHirofumi Yoshimura2,439,44473.7IndMayumi Taniguchi437,97213.2IndJCPKotaro Tatsumi263,3558.0SanseiToshiaki Yoshino114,7643.548Sayaka Sato32,4591.0OtherHideya Inagaki22,3670.7Shimane Prefecture54.96IndLDP, CDP, Komeito, DPFPTatsuya Maruyama251,54586.3JCPShinichi Mukose29,96410.3OtherMasaaki Moritane10,0833.5Tokushima Prefecture54.60IndMasazumi Gotoda130,99340.0IndTōru Miki100,30930.6Ind*LDPKamon Iizumi85,95626.2JCPMotonori Furuta10,5463.2Tottori Prefecture48.85Ind*LDP, *CDP, *KomeitoShinji Hirai200,44291.8JCPHideyuki Fukuzumi17,8228.2Source: NHK

Prefectural assemblies LDP=Liberal Democratic Party CDP=Constitutional Democratic Party Komeito=Komei JCP=Japan Communist Party *NIK=Nippon Ishin no Kai (also refers to Osaka Ishin no Kai) DPFP=Democratic Party for the People SDP=Social Democratic Party Sanseito=Sansei SEATS WON Prefecture LDP CDP ISHIN KOMEI JCP DPFP SDP SANSEI OTHER IND Hokkaido 49 23 1 8 2 0 0 0 0 17 Aomori 25 5 0 2 3 0 0 1 0 12 Iwate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Miyagi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Akita 24 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 11 Yamagata 26 3 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 10 Fukushima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ibaraki 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tochigi 29 3 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 13 Gunma 27 4 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 13 Saitama 53 10 1 9 3 0 0 0 1 16 Chiba 44 15 1 8 4 2 0 0 1 20 Tokyo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tokyo Wards 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kanagawa 48 26 6 8 2 0 0 0 1 14 Niigata 28 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 20 Toyama 31 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 Ishikawa 30 2 0 2 1 0 1 1 0 4 Fukui 18 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 15 Yamanashi 17 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 16 Nagano 22 3 0 5 6 0 0 0 0 21 Gifu 32 1 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 7 Shizuoka 38 2 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 22 Aichi 58 9 0 5 1 4 0 0 3 22 Mie 21 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 8 15 Shiga 21 2 3 2 2 1 0 0 6 7 Kyoto 28 3 9 5 9 4 0 0 0 2 Osaka 7 1 55 14 1 0 0 0 1 Hyogo 24 4 21 13 2 0 0 0 0 22 Nara 17 2 14 3 1 0 0 0 0 6 Wakayama 27 1 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 6 Tottori 15 7 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 9 Shimane 21 1 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 9 Okayama 32 3 0 6 3 1 0 0 0 10 Hiroshima 29 1 0 6 2 0 0 0 0 26 Yamaguchi 25 0 0 5 3 1 0 0 1 12 Tokushima 21 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 12 Kagawa 25 3 1 2 1 5 0 0 0 4 Ehime 21 2 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 19 Kochi 19 1 0 3 6 0 0 0 0 8 Fukuoka 40 14 3 10 0 1 0 0 1 18 Saga 27 5 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 Nagasaki 29 3 0 3 1 3 2 0 0 5 Kumamoto 31 3 1 3 0 0 0 1 1 9 Oita 17 3 1 3 2 1 0 0 0 16 Miyazaki 24 4 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 6 Kagoshima 33 2 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 12 Okinawa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 1153 185 124 169 75 31 3 4 23 493

Source NHK & Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Mayors of Designated Cities Designated cityTurnout (%)PartyEndorsed byCandidateVotes%Hamamatsu49.44IndependentLDP, KomeitoYusuke Nakano246,74580.3IndependentJCPHiroshi Shimada60,53019.7Hiroshima34.53IndependentLDP, KomeitoKazumi Matsui258,33680.0Communist PartyAtsumi Takami36,59511.3IndependentHiroshi Oyama28,1868.7Osaka48.33Osaka Ishin no KaiHideyuki Yokoyama655,80264.6IndependentTaeko Kitano268,22726.4IndependentToshihiko Yamazaki45,3694.5IndependentYasuhiko Aramaki30,9603.0IndependentNepentha15,4081.5Sagamihara45.55IndependentKentaro Motomura196,21374.4IndependentJCPYumiko Tatebe18,73117.1IndependentKota Numakura17,8446.8IndependentHiroyuki Nomoto17,5576.7Association for Creating the Future of SagamiharaToshiko Takeshima13,5055.1Sapporo50.99IndependentCDP, DaiichiKatsuhiro Akimoto458,22156.0IndependentKaoru Takano234,83428.7IndependentJCPHideo Kibata124,69215.2Shizuoka45.61IndependentLDP, CDP, Komeito, DPFPTakashi Nanba149,11758.0IndependentMakoto Yamada80,82931.4Communist PartyChika Suzuki27,19710.6Source: NHK

Designated city assemblies LDP=Liberal Democratic Party CDP=Constitutional Democratic Party JCP=Japan Communist Party *NIK=Nippon Ishin no Kai (also refers to Osaka Ishin no Kai) DPFP=Democratic Party for the People SDP=Social Democratic Party Designated cityTotalseatsSeats wonLDPKomeitoCDPJCP*NIKDPFPSDPSanseitōOthersInd.Chiba5014887418Fukuoka62191274711110Hamamatsu46751330Hiroshima5417863218Kawasaki601711128714Kobe6517125915124Kumamoto482173211211Kyoto67191121410353Nagoya68201213314141Niigata501544621117Okayama4617834113Osaka8111182464Sagamihara46128824210Saitama6019111264116Sakai4871115186Sapporo682610187511Yokohama863415155836Total1,00529217111293136144328152Source: Asahi Shimbun

Stage II: 23 April After the elections on 23 April the make up of prefectures, cities, Tokyo special wards, towns, and villages which held elections during the first and second stages, look like this RACE LDP CDP Ishin Komeito JCP DPFP Reiwa SDP 48 Sansei Other Ind. Totals Governorship 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 9 Prefectural Assembly 1153 185 128 169 75 31 0 3 0 4 23 493 2264 City/Ward Mayor 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 95 99 Town/Village Head 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 124 125 City/Ward Council 1226 463 273 1206 747 101 39 31 1 83 334 3949 8453 Town/Village Council 31 23 17 168 255 6 0 4 0 13 30 3554 4101 Totals 2410 671 366 1543 1077 138 39 38 1 100 442 8222 15047

Voter Turnout Source:

Elections in both town and villages, and cities recorded record low turnouts.

Cities: 63 mayoral races/47.73%, 280 city council elections/44.26%

Towns/Villages: 55 mayoral (heads) races/60.79%, 250 council elections/55.49%.

Aftermath and reactions Anticipation began to grow that, banking on the success of the local elections, Prime Minister Kishida may call a snap general election.