2025 POLLS: Single-Seat Districts Hold Key to Election Success

   Tokyo, July 8 (Jiji Press)--The results of 32 constituencies each with one seat up for grabs hold the key to success in the July 20 election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of Japan's parliament.
   In the fiercely contested districts, election results tend to swing wildly in line with shifts in public opinion. Ruling and opposition parties are waging an all-out battle in the Upper House race.
   Visiting the city of Shirakawa in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima on Friday, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said, "I implore you to help us retain our seat" in the prefectural constituency with one contested seat.
   Vying for the seat, the candidates of the LDP and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will go head-to-head after the Japanese Communist Party pulled out of the race just before the election's official campaign period began on Thursday.
   Ishiba also took to the streets of Ishikawa and Okinawa prefectures, both single-seat constituencies, on Friday to drum up support.

(2025/07/08-14:45)