This past Sunday, voters in Japan headed to the ballot boxes for the second round of elections in two weeks as part of the country’s April unified elections.
Since this was the first nationwide vote since last summer’s Upper House campaign, it was seen as a litmus test for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration.
This month’s unified elections saw 975 seats contested at the prefectural and municipal levels nationwide, including nine gubernatorial seats and six major mayoral elections. Additionally, the central government tacked on five by-elections for vacant parliamentary seats.