The sweeping victory of Japan s ruling party in the July 10 upper house election gives Prime Minister Fumio Kishida a free hand to tackle long-term issues, but controversial plans for revising the Constitution may take a back seat as he faces rising prices and the fallout from the assassination of influential predecessor Shinzo Abe.
Suffering heavy losses in the upper house election, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has lost its mantle as the country s major opposition party, though other parties also struggled against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
A record number of both women and LGBTQ candidates are campaigning to win over voters in the House of Councillors election on Sunday and potentially bring change to Japan s male-dominated political landscape.
With Russia s war on Ukraine setting alarm bells ringing in Japan about an assertive China, the defense budget has become one of the key issues in the House of Councillors election on July 10.