The House of Representatives was dissolved at a plenary session on Wednesday afternoon, paving the way for a lower house election. Official campaigning will begin on Tuesday, with voting scheduled for October 27.
The government officially announced the schedule for the 50th lower house election at an extraordinary Cabinet meeting later in the day.
With the lower house election schedule now set, both ruling and opposition parties have entered into the campaign period. The main issues at stake in this race are the economy, particularly measures to combat rising prices, and political reform in response to a political funds scandal involving LDP factions.
Before the extraordinary Cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning where the decision to dissolve the lower house was made, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed his determination to gain confidence in his administration through wholehearted participation in the upcoming election.
On that same day, Ishiba engaged in one-on-one debates with leaders of opposition parties including Yoshihiko Noda from Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.
The debates lasted for 80 minutes and began at 1 p.m., with Noda being given first speaking rights. Noda emphasized political reform by urging Ishiba to start from basics and suggested banning donations by corporations and organizations as a starting point for revising Political Funds Control Law. In response, Ishiba simply stated that he would make efforts to ensure transparency.
Following these one-on-one debates, Fukushiro Nukaga, Speaker of Lower House read out an Imperial rescript officially dissolving it.
This dissolution occurred just eight days after Ishiba assumed office as Prime Minister - making it one of fastest moves postwar period. Voting and ballot-counting will take place 26 days after Ishiba took office - another postwar record.
This upcoming lower house election is significant as it is first since October 2021 when Fumio Kishida served as Prime Minister. It is also noteworthy because single-seat constituencies were rezoned under ”plus 10 minus 10″ plan which created ten new constituencies while eliminating ten others.
A total of 465 seats will be contested by ruling and opposition parties – consisting of 289 single-seat constituencies and176 proportional representation seats. Prior to dissolution LDP along with its coalition partner Komeito held majority with combined total of290 seats (258 LDP +32 Komeito). However some members included within this figure won’t be endorsed for official party ticket during upcoming elections
It remains uncertain whether LDP can secure majority (233 seats) independently or if they’ll require assistance from Komeito party
In afternoon leaders from CDPJ (largest opposition party), Japan Innovation Party , Japanese Communist Party , Democratic Party submitted no-confidence motion against Ishiba Cabinet but motion became void when Imperial rescript dissolving Lower House was read out by Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga
CDPJ aims to reduce ruling parties below majority status while also hoping other opposition parties join forces fielding only one candidate among themselves where there are tainted LDP members due political funds scandal . However progress coordinating between CDPJ & other opposition parties has been limited so far