Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday that the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election in June will be a litmus test for the government he formed in December.
"It's a battle in the capital and is almost as crucial as a national election," Abe told reporters in Sendai. "We're asking voters whether our economic and other policies are right or wrong."
"I would like to emphasize that political stability is important" in the runup to the Tokyo assembly poll on June 23, he said.
Abe's conservative Liberal Democratic Party is gearing up for the House of Councilors election in July. But when asked whether he had a plan to dissolve the more powerful House of Representatives soon to prompt a double election, Abe demurred.
"(I will) judge when to dissolve the Lower House at the right time in an appropriate manner," he said.