Races for this year's nationwide series of local elections kicked off with the start of official campaigns last week for gubernatorial elections in 10 prefectures on April 12 — the same day that local assembly seats in 41 prefectures and 22 major cities will also be contested.

Mayoral elections in more than 200 municipalities as well as assembly races in nearly 700 cities, towns and villages will be held on April 26.

Public interest in local elections tend to be lower than in Diet races. Voter turnout is sluggish and a large number of candidates win their races uncontested. People need to realize the important roles that local administrations play on issues that concern their everyday lives, including jobs, education, support for child-rearing, medical and nursing-care services, and anti-disaster measures. They should also be aware of the implications of their votes on national politics. They can use their votes to send messages on government policy issues — such as whether the prime minister's "Abenomics" policies have benefited their local economies, or whether proposed reform of agricultural cooperative organizations will make farming in their regions more competitive.

The latest nationwide series of local elections — held every four years — comes on the heels of recent dire warnings over the future of many of Japan's depopulated regions.

In the face of criticism that many benefits of his economic policies have not been broadly shared across the country, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put regional revitalization in the forefront of his agenda.

Local governments are required to submit strategies for their resuscitation to the national government by the end of March 2016 under the Abe administration's programs.

Voters should carefully consider which candidates will be able to offer ideas useful in reviving their local and regional economies, and creating an environment in which residents can enjoy healthy and culturally satisfactory lives. They need to assess whether proposals made by candidates are sufficiently concrete and can be translated into realistic programs.

One of the problems that accounts for the lack of public interest in local elections is that ruling and opposition parties in national politics often avoid competition in gubernatorial and mayoral elections and back the same candidates.

Of the upcoming 10 gubernatorial races, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan compete only in Hokkaido and Oita. The DPJ even failed to field its own candidate in Mie — home of the constituency of the party's chief, Katsuya Okada.

Voter turnout remains generally low. Turnout in prefectural assembly elections in 2011 ranged between 40 and 50 percent. What's worse, there are not enough candidates to hold a race in some local elections — with all the candidates winning assembly seats or elected mayors uncontested.

In the elections four years ago, 58 of the 121 towns and villages that were scheduled to hold mayoral elections instead selected the sole candidates who opted to run.

These phenomena could undermine local autonomy. Reforms need to be carried out to encourage more people to join the competition for local offices. Possible remedies may include holding assembly sessions in the evening hours or on holidays, and compelling companies to end their practice of requiring employees who run for public office to quit their jobs.

The upcoming elections also have implications for national politics. In mid-May, the Abe administration plans to submit to the Diet a package of proposed pieces of security legislation to implement its decision to allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense. The administration might claim that another election victory for the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito is a vote of confidence in its policies, including the planned security legislation.

Successful candidates in the upcoming elections will also play key roles in their parties' campaign machines in the next Upper House election in the summer of 2016. Voters need to consider the effects of the election results on both local and national levels when they cast their ballots.