＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
Mizote Akimasa (1942- ) is a powerful figure who has been elected to the House of Councillors five times and served as Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission in the first Abe Cabinet. As scheduled, he ran in the July 2019 House of Councillors election in the Hiroshima prefecture constituency with the LDP’s official endorsement.
However, in addition to Mizote, the LDP headquarters also endorsed Anri Kawai, the wife of House of Representatives member Katsuyuki Kawai and a former member of the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly. The decision to support Kawai was made despite the LDP prefectural chapter’s request to withdraw its support.
The party headquarters provided Anri Kawai with an unprecedented 150 million yen before the election was announced. Mizote received only 15 million yen. Mizote was defeated by the Kawai camp’s outspoken support, losing by a runner-up.
By the way, the election results were: Independent Morimoto Shinji (329,792 votes) and LDP candidate Kawai Anri (295,871 votes), who were elected, while LDP candidate Mizote Akimasa (270,183 votes) was defeated after falling short of his rival.
I previously wrote an article about the election violations committed by former Justice Minister Kawai Katsuyuki and his wife. If House of Councillors member Kawai Anri loses her seat for violating the Public Offices Election Act, will Mizote Akimasa, who came in second in the July 2019 House of Councillors election, be elected in her place? Or will a by-election be held?
In this article, we will provide an easy-to-understand explanation of “elections” and “by-elections.”
1. “Elections by Replacement” and “By-Elections”
(1) What is a “Elections by Replacement”?
“Elections by replacement” generally refers to “when a vacancy occurs in a higher-ranked position (including disqualified or demoted candidates) in an election or lottery, and a lower-ranked candidate is elected.”
If a member of the same party who ran and won a House of Councillors constituency resigns, the following two conditions apply:
① The member resigns within three months of the election date (there is no deadline for proportional representation blocks).
② The number of vacancies exceeds one-quarter of the constituency’s quota (Hiroshima has a quota of two; one resignation will exceed this limit).
(2) What is a By-Election?
A by-election is generally defined as “an election to fill a vacant seat in the Diet.”
If a member of the House of Councillors who ran and won a constituency resigns, the following conditions apply:
① The number of vacancies exceeds one-quarter of the constituency’s quota (Hiroshima has a quota of two; one resignation will exceed this limit).
② What would happen if House of Councillors member Anri Kawai were to lose her seat for violating the Public Offices Election Act?
The last House of Councillors election was held in July 2019, so more than three months have passed and condition 1.(1)① above does not apply. Therefore, there will be no replacement election and a by-election will be held.
In order for Akimasa Mizobe to return to the Diet before the next House of Councillors election, he will need to run in and win a by-election in the Hiroshima electoral district.
Pursuant to Article 33-2, Paragraph 2 of the Public Offices Election Act, there are only two possible dates for a by-election:
If a vacancy occurs between September 16 and March 15, it will be held in the fourth week of April.
If a vacancy occurs between March 16 and September 15, it will be held in the fourth week of October.
Therefore, the earliest a by-election could occur would be the fourth week of October of this year.