A total of 169 people were preparing to run in the House of Councillors election in summer either in constituencies or proportional representation blocks as of Sunday, a Kyodo News survey showed.
The election, with half of the chamber's 242 seats up for grabs, will be a chance for the public to hand down a verdict on the performance of Japan's new government under the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ally the New Komeito party, which returned to power following a landslide victory in the Dec. 16 lower house election.
Of the 121 seats, 73 will be filled by winners from constituencies and the remaining 48 by those chosen under the proportional representation system.