In Sunday's election, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, the LDP's junior partner in the national Diet, succeeded in getting all their candidates — 59 and 23, respectively — elected and now control the 127-seat Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's strategy of selling his economic policy generally succeeded in getting the support of many Tokyoites.
In the past, the assembly election results often served as a precursor of a national election afterward. An Upper House election is scheduled July 21, but predicting that outcome is difficult.
Ordinary citizens and local economies have not felt the benefits of Mr. Abe's economic policy. Rural areas strongly oppose Japan's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade scheme, and many people oppose the restart of nuclear power plants and the idea of weakening the constitutional procedure designed to prevent imprudent revisions of the Constitution, all pushed by Mr. Abe.
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