Riding on the dynamics of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity, the governing Liberal Democratic Party expanded its plurality strength from a pre-election total of 48 seats to 53 in Sunday's election for the 127-seat Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Together with the 23 seats grabbed by New Komeito, the LDP now commands a comfortable majority in the Tokyo assembly.
Sunday's poll was the first major election since the inauguration of the Koizumi administration. As such, its outcome seems certain to significantly affect not only the Upper House election, which is expected to be held late next month, but also the political situation that will follow.
Traditionally, though not always, Tokyo assembly elections have set the pace for national politics because they have largely focused on national issues and their results have broadly agreed with those of subsequent national elections. The only exception in the recent past was the 1997 Tokyo poll, which was lackluster because, with no upcoming national election, there were no major issues at stake. The traditional analogy is relevant this time again, however.