Voters listen to a speech by a candidate running for a seat in the Upper House re-election in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward on April 21. (Jun Ueda)
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Liberal Democratic Party was left reeling April 25 after it lost two key Diet elections in Hiroshima and Nagano Prefectures.
They were the first polls to be held at the national level since Suga replaced Shinzo Abe as prime minister last September.
As the LDP could not field a candidate in a third national-level election held the same day in Hokkaido, the opposition camp was able to seize all three seats.