TOKYO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Campaigning for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election began on Friday, with the event viewed as a litmus test for the future direction of national politics, specifically the general election to be held by this fall.

Residents will cast ballots on July 4, with 127 assembly seats being vied for by candidates across Tokyo's 42 electoral districts.

The election in July will primarily pit the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior Komeito coalition ally against Tokyoites First party (Tomin First no Kai), founded by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who heads the LDP, showed his support for his party Friday by attending a rally at which he encouraged party members to pull out all the stops to help LDP candidates win votes.

"It is the ruling party's responsibility to protect the lives and livelihood of the people under the coronavirus pandemic," Suga said at the headquarters of the LDP.

Tokyoites First party representative Chiharu Araki, filling in for Koike who has been hospitalized due to chronic fatigue, according to local accounts, said, "We have to commit ourselves to protecting the livelihood of Tokyoites."

Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi, in a stump speech, vowed to lead at the very front in realizing new policies and bring reform to the metropolitan government.

Main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) leader Yukio Edano also pledged to "significantly change national politics before the lower house election so that people's livelihoods will be protected."

The nine-day election campaign, some of which is being conducted online due to the pandemic, in the run-up to the polls will see candidates weigh-in on a number of major issues.

These include the COVID-19 pandemic and the government's response to the virus in the capital, the vaccination campaign, as well as the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled to kick-off in the capital in just less than a month.

Tokyoites First party, which holds 46 of the chamber's 127 seats and is the largest force in the Tokyo assembly, is calling for the Olympics to be held without spectators.

The LDP and Komeito, meanwhile, who comprise the second and third largest parties in the assembly are campaigning based on a pledge to hold safe and secure Games.

The parties are uniting for the election this time as the ruling coalition aims to win a potentially tricky general election later this year amid slumping public support over the government's handling of the pandemic and refusal to listen to the Japanese public's majority call to cancel the Olympics.

In 2017, the LDP suffered a heavy defeat in the election, securing a mere 23 assembly seats compared to the 57 seats it held previously.

Tokyoites First, to which Koike currently serves as a special adviser, in the previous election cooperated with Komeito leading to the LDP's heavy loss, hence the LDP and Komeito are teaming up this time around.

In the upcoming bout and among other parties vying to secure seats, the CDPJ will be calling for the Olympics to be cancelled or postponed again due to the risk of COVID-19 further spreading and new virus variants possibly coming from overseas and wreaking havoc on the capital and wider Japan.

The Japanese Communist Party (JCP), for its part, is pushing for the Games to be cancelled outright.

From around 270 candidates throwing their hats into the ring, the LDP will field 60 candidates, while Tokyoites First will field 47, local media reported.

Komeito will see 23 candidates put forward, while the JCP will field 31 candidates compared to the CDPJ's 28.

According to local media, as of 1 p.m. local time Friday, 267 people had filed their candidacies, of which 76 were women, marking the highest ever count of female candidates competing in the assembly election.

The outcome of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election could have a significant bearing on the upcoming general election, which must be held before the current four-year term of lower house members ends on Oct. 21.

Suga stressed that dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic remains his priority, but hinted he could dissolve the lower house of Japan's bicameral parliament and call a snap election at any time. Enditem

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