Two Liberal Democratic Party candidates won by-elections in Miyagi and Shiga prefectures Sunday, securing the LDP a simple majority in the Lower House.
In the race for Miyagi's No. 4 constituency, Shintaro Ito, a 48-year-old university professor, defeated three candidates to fill the vacant seat of his late father, Soichiro Ito, a former speaker of the House of Representatives. Ito died on Sept. 4.
Ito defeated former Miyagi Gov. Shuntaro Honma, 61; tax accountant Takashi Yamajo, 38; and Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Toshiro Ono, 52 , a senior member of the party's local branch.
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