Record-high 314 women filed their candidacy Tuesday for the upcoming general election, while hereditary politics continued to play a large role within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The number of female candidates for the Oct. 27 House of Representatives election was up from the previous record of 229 in the 2009 lower house poll, as both the LDP and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan ramped up their support for them.
The percentage of women among all candidates rose 5.7 points from the last election in 2021 to 23.4 percent.
The figures came as a recent report by the World Economic Forum found that Japan ranked 118th among 146 countries in the gender gap rankings in 2024, the lowest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
Meanwhile, so-called hereditary candidates — those who have a relative in office and inherited their position, or whose parents or grandparents have been a member of parliament — totaled 136 across both the ruling and opposition parties, or 10 percent of all candidates, according to a Kyodo News survey.
In the LDP, such candidates totaled 97, accounting for 28.4 percent of its overall candidates, including Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
The CDPJ, which has argued that hereditary succession of politicians should be restricted, fielded 27 such candidates, or 11.4 percent of its total.
Critics say hereditary politics has remained prevalent in Japan as the younger generation shows less interest in becoming lawmakers due to a series of scandals within politics.
