FOCUS: Fierce Battle Seen for Tokyo in Japan Upper House Poll

Tokyo, April 10 (Jiji Press)--A fierce battle is seen for Tokyo in this summer's House of Councillors election, with major parties finishing the selection of their candidates in the Japanese capital in the closely watched poll for the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.

Six of the 12 seats allotted to the Tokyo constituency will be contested in the upcoming poll. Each Upper House member has a term of six years, and an Upper House election takes place every three years, with half of all seats on the chamber up for grabs in each poll.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has two of the six seats, is resolved not to lose them, while the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has decided to field two candidates.

Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Japanese Communist Party are all aiming to win seats. In addition, Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites first group), a regional party in Tokyo, has established a national political party, First no Kai, to join the election.

The LDP had been struggling to find a candidate who could succeed Upper House member Masaharu Nakagawa, former environment minister, who is set to retire. Only recently, the party was able to pick Akiko Ikuina, who was a member of now-defunct all-female pop group Onyanko Club, as one of its two candidates in Tokyo.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]