A ruling party candidate won a seat in a lower house by-election in Shizuoka Sunday under a state of emergency over the coronavirus, providing some relief to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe whose response to the pandemic has been criticized.
Yoichi Fukazawa of the Liberal Democratic Party, who was also backed by its junior coalition partner Komeito, defeated Ken Tanaka, who was endorsed by four major opposition parties in the first national poll since the coronavirus outbreak began. Voter turnout was a record low of 34.10 percent.
The election in the Shizuoka No. 4 district was an opportunity for the ruling coalition to justify their crisis response that opposition lawmakers have criticized as slow and out of touch with the public. It was also marked by firsts for both candidates and voters as Japan scrambles to contain COVID-19.