Wednesday marked the official start of the 18-day campaign for the 24th House of Councillors election, which will culminate in voting on July 10.

The upper house election is the first full-scale national election since the inauguration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s third Cabinet in December 2014.

The key point of contention is whether a majority of voters support Abenomics, the prime minister’s economic policy package. Candidates are likely to spar over how best to restore the government’s fiscal health in light of Abe’s decision to postpone an increase in the consumption tax rate to 10 per cent.

The prime minister has expressed his intention to seek a public mandate from voters over the postponement of the consumption tax hike, and to set the ruling camp’s threshold for victory at 61 seats, or a majority of the 121 contested seats.

Another focus of attention is whether the ruling parties and those among the opposition parties and independents who favour amending the Constitution will be able to secure at least two-thirds, or 162, of the seats in the upper house – the number needed to propose constitutional amendment.

The revised Public Offices Election Law went into effect Sunday, lowering the minimum voting age from 20 to 18.

The upper house election is the first national election since the change of the minimum voting age. About 2.4 million youths aged 18 and 19 are now eligible voters.

If, as is generally the case in upper house elections, the length of this year’s campaign had been set at 17 days, the start of campaigning would have begun on June 23.

However, as that date falls on Okinawa Memorial Day, the government moved forward the schedule by one day to avoid having the two events on the same day.

In this summer’s upper house election, a total of 121 seats, half of all the seats in the upper house, are being contested. A total of 73 seats are being contested in electoral districts and 48 in proportional representation.

There are 389 candidates – 225 in the electoral districts and 164 in proportional representation. The deadline to accept candidacies was 5 p.m. Wednesday.

In the previous upper house election in 2013, the number of candidates totaled 433 – 271 in electoral districts and 162 in proportional representation.

Starting on Wednesday morning, leaders of political parties began delivering their first speeches of the election cycle.

Abe, who is also president of the Liberal Democratic Party, chose to open his party’s campaign in Kumamoto, a city that was severely damaged by the Kumamoto Earthquake in April.

Katsuya Okada, leader of the Democratic Party, chose Kofu as his party’s launching point. Kofu is a core city in the Yamanashi electoral district, one of 32 electoral districts across the nation where only one seat is being contested.

Abe eyes majority of contested seats

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will define “victory versus defeat” in the July 10 House of Councillors election as whether the ruling bloc acquires the majority of seats up for grabs. Official campaigning kicked off Wednesday.

To achieve that goal, the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito must win more than 59 seats, their current combined strength among the seats being contested in this election.

The two parties won 76 seats in the previous upper house election in 2013.

Regarding amending the Constitution, Abe proposed Sunday that the commissions on the Constitution in both houses of the Diet resume their discussions during an extraordinary Diet session in autumn, to launch talks on specific items for revision.

The key to realizing this plan is whether four parties – the LDP, Komeito, Osaka Ishin no Kai and the Party for Japanese Kokoro – and pro-amendment independent policymakers can win a total of 78 seats. This is the minimum figure essential for them to acquire two-thirds, or 162 seats, in the upper house, including the uncontested seats held by those who support their position.

If the LDP wins 57 seats or more, it will regain a single-party majority of at least 122 seats for the first time in 27 years. It lost its single-party majority in the 1989 upper house election held shortly after the consumption tax was introduced.