Japan’s ruling party loses all 3 seats in special vote, seen as punishment for corruption scandal

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s governing party, stung by an extensive slush funds scandal, lost all three seats in parliamentary by-elections Sunday in a major setback for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in seeking reelection as his party’s leader in the autumn.

The loss is considered punishment by voters for the Liberal Democratic Party scandal that erupted last year and has undermined Kishida’s leadership. The party’s loss of power is unlikely, however, because the opposition is fractured.

“The results were extremely severe,” LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters. “We humbly accept the severe results, and we will do our utmost to regain the trust from the public as we continue our effort to reform and tackle the challenges.”

The liberal-leaning main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan clinched all three seats in Shimane, Nagasaki and Tokyo, according to final vote counts posted on prefectural election committee websites.

The LDP previously held all three vacated seats. It did not field its own candidates in the Tokyo and Nagasaki by-elections because of the apparent low support for the party. It focused instead on defending the seat in the Shimane district that was vacated by the death of former LDP House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda, who was linked to a number of alleged irregularities, including the ongoing slush fund scandal.

Akiko Kamei, the CDPJ candidate who beat former Finance Ministry bureaucrat Norimasa Nishikori from the LDP in Shimane, said her victory in the district known as a “conservative kingdom” sent a big message to Kishida. “I believe the voters’ anger over LDP’s slush funds problem and the lack of improvement in daily lives in the prefecture became support for me,” she said.

CPDJ