Official campaigns for 123 city mayoral elections and 387 municipal assembly elections on April 27 start Sunday in what will be the second half of the 15th quadrennial local elections.
Sunday will also mark the start of campaigns in Tokyo for 14 ward mayoral elections and 21 ward assembly elections, while campaigns for elections for town and village mayors and assemblies also to be held April 27 will begin Tuesday.
As of Friday, 300 people planned to run in the city mayoral races, with an average competition rate of 2.4 candidates per post, almost the same as that in the last polls in 1999, according to the latest Kyodo News survey.