Campaigning for the June 24 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election — widely viewed as the political prelude to July's House of Councilors poll — officially got under way Friday.

The election, in which 242 candidates are vying for the assembly's 127 seats, is also expected to be the first test for hugely popular Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose Liberal Democratic Party currently forms the largest force in the assembly with 48 seats.

Given the traditionally important role that metro assembly elections have played as a bellwether for subsequent Diet contests, major political parties are expected to mount campaigns rivaling those for national-level elections in their efforts to woo Tokyo's 9.88 million voters.