Japan election: Kishida admits it’s a ‘really close race’ as parties make final campaign push

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed in a campaign speech in Saitama Prefecture to tackle Covid-19 and boost the economy

Polls suggest the ruling LDP coalition will lose support but retain its majority, although 40 per cent of respondents say they are unsure who to vote for

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, makes a stump speech in Higashimatsuyama in Saitama Prefecture ahead of the country’s October 31 general election. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 4:00pm, 30 Oct 2021Updated: 8:33pm, 30 Oct 2021

Japan’s political leaders made their final appeals to voters on Saturday, a day before the general election to decide whether to give Prime Minister Fumio Kishida a mandate for his Covid-19 and economic policies.

The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito are looking to retain a majority in the 465-seat House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, with the outcome hingeing on dozens of battleground constituencies.

In a stump speech in Saitama Prefecture’s Higashimatsuyama, just north of Tokyo, Kishida vowed to secure more hospital beds to treat Covid-19 patients and begin administering vaccine booster shots from December, while putting the world’s third-largest economy back on a growth track and boosting middle-class incomes.

“We will revive the Japanese economy and make sure the fruits are enjoyed by everyone, not just a chosen few,” he said to a crowd of about 2,000. “The opposition is only thinking about redistribution, but [without growth] there will eventually be nothing to distribute.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivers a speech from the roof of a campaign van during an election event ahead of Sunday’s election. Photo: EPA-EFE

Opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan argue the “Abenomics” policies pursued by Kishida’s predecessors, Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga, have only served to boost corporate earnings and share prices while failing to achieve wage increases. They also criticise the government’s handling of the pandemic as “behind the curve”.

“Politics exists to protect lives and livelihoods,” CDPJ leader Yukio Edano said in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. “We have continued to make proposals for change. It’s up to you to make a change.”