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EDITORIALS
May 10, 2008

Mr. Brown gets battered

Even though he was not on the ballot, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took a beating in local elections last week. His Labour Party suffered its worst election loss in 40 years, animating Conservatives who now smell blood and prompting calls for Mr. Brown to hand over the reins of power to a more...
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2006

Rolling back a dictatorship

Fifteen years after signing the Paris peace accord that ended its civil war, Cambodia has emerged as a full-fledged member of the international community. It joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1999 and the World Trade Organization in 2004.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2004

Lower House panel debates foreign suffrage bill

A House of Representatives committee on Tuesday began deliberating a bill to enable permanent foreign residents of Japan to vote in local elections.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Coalition wins three by-elections

Candidates from the ruling bloc won three of the four Diet by-elections held Sunday, while the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, retained a Tokyo-constituency Lower House seat left vacant by the assassination of a DPJ lawmaker last fall, final results showed Monday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 14, 2023

Could the LDP turn to Nippon Ishin amid friction with coalition partner Komeito?

Tensions with Komeito and policy compatibility with Nippon Ishin have some questioning whether the ruling party might shop around for a new coalition partner.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2016

Futenma, elections and autonomy

The upcoming elections in Okinawa, starting with the Ginowan mayoral race, will weigh heavily on the Futenma relocation issue.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 12, 2015

Hashimoto's party set to retain edge in Osaka

Toru Hashimoto and his Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) group are likely to remain the largest party in the municipal and prefectural chambers after Sunday's elections.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2014

Debate on foreigner voting rights reignites ahead of 2020 Olympics

The debate over voting rights for non-Japanese residents is flaring up again, amid a drive to attract more foreign workers ahead of the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 2, 2013

The LDP constitution, article by article: a preview of things to come?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for constitutional change. Yet he is playing the political huckster by proposing to first only fiddle with the amendment procedure in Article 96, lowering the threshold for the process to move forward from the approval of two-thirds of both houses of the Diet, as...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2009

Hatoyama plays down prospects for drafting foreigner suffrage bill

Enacting laws to allow permanent foreign residents to vote in local-level elections may be difficult in the near future and more debate is needed to form a nonpartisan consensus in the Diet, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2003

Governor wannabes shunning parties

The gubernatorial election campaigns that kicked off Thursday could trigger a major change in the political scene if strong, reform-minded candidates challenging the highly centralized system emerge victorious.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2000

No rush to grant foreigners voting rights

A major domestic political debate is brewing over whether non-Japanese permanent residents should be granted the right to vote in local elections of prefectural governors, prefectural legislators, and chiefs and council members of lower local administrative entities. Those foreigners will still be ineligible...
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 22, 2019

Abe likely to use upcoming big events to distract Japanese public from election routs, experts say

The Liberal Democratic Party's defeat in two by-elections on Sunday is likely to prompt the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to use upcoming diplomatic events to deflect domestic attention from recent political setbacks, as he looks ahead to a key Upper House election in the summer, experts...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2016

Divisions weaken Palestinians

There can never be a free Palestine without Palestinians first freeing themselves of the factional strife that weakens them.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 13, 2015

Election results spotlight apathy, weak opposition

The ruling bloc's victories in the unified local elections are showcasing Japan's lack of viable political opposition while giving Prime Minister Abe momentum to pass unpopular security bills.
JAPAN / Politics / LOCAL POLLS '15
Apr 10, 2015

Voters in Saga face small candidate field, big issues

Saga is stuck with a paucity of candidates in the unified elections this month even as issues with both national and local implications stalk the ballot.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2005

EU states also need to deal with Israel

DOHA, Qatar -- Hamas' electoral success since the first round of local elections in Gaza in December has signaled a dramatic shift in the way the movement is perceived both nationally and internationally.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2003

Influence of parties may be waning, leaders admit

The influence of political parties may be declining given the strong showing by unaffiliated candidates in Sunday's nationwide local elections, government leaders admitted Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

Resignation of farm minister could be a slow-burning fuse

The sudden resignation Monday of farm minister Tadamori Oshima is a further blow to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, already fighting battles over public opinion and his handling of the economy.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2003

Stumping begins in Aomori, Ehime

Campaigning kicked off Thursday for Jan. 28 gubernatorial elections in Aomori and Ehime prefectures, a prelude to local elections across the nation in April.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2002

Okayama city sets sights on nation's first electronic ballot

Niimi, in Okayama Prefecture, is aiming to use the nation's first electronic voting system in its mayoral and municipal assembly elections in June.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 1, 2001

The importance of getting the vote out

Reality rarely bites my brain until I have downed my first cup of morning coffee, and sometimes not even several such cups are enough to juice me from dream mode out into open-eyed awareness.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2023

Kishida heads into parliamentary session with packed — and divisive — agenda

Contentious debates in the Diet over increased defense spending, policies aimed at children and extending the life of nuclear reactors could ultimately seal the prime minister's fate.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 25, 2022

Even from jail, Najib Razak likely to remain a kingmaker when Malaysia votes

Najib began serving a 12-year prison sentence Tuesday over the 1MDB financial scandal, but retains widespread popularity and deep influence in the ruling United Malays National Organization.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Aug 15, 2022

What can we do to fight the climate crisis from Japan?

Dealing with the climate crisis means more than just recycling at this point. Educating yourself and others may now be the best thing you can do.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Mar 6, 2021

China abandons 24-year experiment with open Hong Kong elections

For almost a quarter of a century, the city stood as the one place under Beijing's rule with open elections. Now, China may have been convinced to end the experiment in democracy.
Kerwin Espinosa, son of the late mayor Rolando Espinosa, taking an oath during the Senate drug hearing in Manila. The country's elections commission, Comelec, recorded 46 acts of political violence between Jan. 12 and April 11, including the shooting of Espinosa.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 20, 2025

Money, power, violence in high-stakes Philippine elections

Analysts warned that violence will likely remain a fixture of the Philippines' political landscape.
Lin Te-wang, chairman of Taiwan People's Communist Party, in 2022
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

Taiwan communist party head indicted on China infiltration charge

Lin Te-wang, chairman of the Taiwan People's Communist Party, has been charged with violating the Anti-infiltration Act.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight