Two Liberal Democratic Party candidates won by-elections in Miyagi and Shiga prefectures Sunday, securing for the LDP a simple majority in the Lower House.
In the race for Miyagi's No. 4 constituency, Shintaro Ito, a 48-year-old university professor, defeated three candidates to fill the vacant seat of his late father, Soichiro, a former speaker of the House of Representatives. Ito died on Sept. 4.
Ito defeated ex-Miyagi Gov. Shuntaro Honma, 61; tax accountant Takashi Yamajo, 38; and Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Toshiro Ono, 52, a senior member of the party's local branch.