Political parties over the weekend competed for the support of heavy Internet users at an event hosted by an online video-sharing site in the runup to the House of Councilors election in July, the first election to allow politicians unfettered access to the Web in their campaigns.

The Liberal Democratic Party and rivals such as the Democratic Party of Japan, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) as well as the Japanese Communist Party set up booths at the two-day "Nico Nico Chokaigi" event hosted by Dwango Co., which operates the video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga.

With the passage of a revision to the 1950 Public Offices Election Law earlier this month, the upcoming Upper House election in July will see political parties, candidates and voters launch election campaigns utilizing the Internet, including use of blogs, home pages, as well as social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.