The 2021 Japanese general election in Southern Kanto were held on October 31, 2021, to elect the 55 representatives, one from each of 33 Electoral districts and 22 proportional seats.[1]
In the last general election, Hiroaki Kadoyama, the Liberal Democratic Party, won a seat after a close race over Kaname Tajima, an incumbent candidate from the Kibō no Tō.[2] Tajima joined the Constitutional Democratic Party in 2020 through the Democratic Party For the People. In this general election, the Japanese Communist Party did not field any candidates and the opposition candidates were unified into Tajima, the CDP. The LDP nominated Kadoyama, the incumbent of Chiba 1st district, as a candidate.
After a one-on-one battle, Tajima beat Kadoyama to regain his seat（Kadoyama won the seat through proportional representation and maintained his position as a member of the House of Representatives.）.[1][3][4]
The Liberal Democratic Party nominated Takayuki Kobayashi, the incumbent of Chiba 2nd district since 2012 and the incumbent Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy of Kishida Cabinet,[5] as its candidate. On the other hand, the Constitutional Democratic Party nominated Yu Kuroda, a former member of the House of Representatives, as its candidate. In addition, the Japanese Communist Party also fielded a candidate.
The Liberal Democratic Party nominated Hirokazu Matsuno, the incumbent of Chiba 3rd district and the incumbent Chief Cabinet Secretary, as a candidate. The Constitutional Democratic Party nominated Kazumasa Okajima, an incumbent member of the House of Representatives from Southern Kanto proportional representation block and the Secretary-General of the CDP’s Chiba Prefectural federation, as a candidate.
After the Democratic Party split in 2017, Yoshihiko Noda, a Former Prime Minister and a veteran politician, joined neither and was an independent. In 2020, when the original Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party For the People merged, Noda agreed.[8] Eventually, he joined the newly formed Constitutional Democratic Party.
The Liberal Democratic Party nominated Kentaro Sonoura, the incumbent member of the House of Representatives from Chiba 5th district, as its candidate.
In opposition parties, the Constitutional Democratic Party and Ishin, and the Democratic Party for the People fielded candidates, and opposition parties failed to unify candidates.
The Liberal Democratic Party nominated Hiromichi Watanabe, the incumbent member of the House of Representatives from Chiba 6th district, as its candidate. In opposition parties, the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Ishin planned to field candidates.
The CDP initially tried to nominate Yukio Ubukata, an incumbent member of the House of Representatives from Southern Kanto proportional representation block and the Chairman of the Chiba Prefectural Federation of the CDP. However, Ubukata was criticized for his remarks on North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens. When Ubukata discussed the abduction of Japanese by North Korea at the rally just before the general election, he mentioned Megumi Tokota, one of the abductees and a symbol of North Korean abductions, and insisted "Nobody thinks she is still alive. None of the (ruling) Liberal Democratic Party’s lawmakers do, either. If she were alive, (North Korea) would have returned her." In addition, Regarding the abductees who returned after negotiations, Ubukata said, "We should have returned them to North Korea after a certain period of time, as promised with North Korea," adding that Koizumi's decision to refuse to return them to North Korea was wrong. The family association of abductees protested Ubukata's remarks, and Sakie Yokota, the mother of abductee Megumi Yokota, said, "I was surprised that there were Japanese like this. We believe the abductees are alive."[11] CDP Secretary-General Tetsuro Fukuyama and Yuko Mori, who heads the party’s headquarters on the issue of abduction, responded with an emergency statement that distanced the party from his comments.
They said his remarks were “completely at odds with the party’s thinking” and “deeply hurt families of the abductees and all people involved with resolving the abduction issue.”
The party said it has severely reprimanded Ubukata.[12][13] As a result of a slip of tongue, Ubukata resigned as chairman of the Constitutional Democratic Party's Chiba prefectural federation and left the Constitutional Democratic Party.
The Ishin nominated Kenta Fujimaki [ja] whose father is Takeshi Fujimaki [ja], a former member of the House of Councillors, as its candidate. Following Ubukata's departure from the CDP, the Japanese Communist Party, which had not fielded a candidate for election cooperation with the CDP, also fielded a candidate.
Watanabe defeated other candidates and Ubukata lost many votes he had gained in the last election and placed fourth. On the other hand, Fujimaki won the proportional representation block seat.[1][14]
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