On October 25, the Chair of the DPJ Election Strategy Committee, Hajime Ishii, issued the following statement.

Today, by-elections for the House of Councillors were held in Kanagawa Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture, and our party’s officially endorsed candidates, Yoichi Kaneko and Hirokazu Tsuchida, were elected. I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the many people in Kanagawa Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture from whom we received support and encouragement.

In the recent general election many people called for political reform, and brought about the birth of a DPJ-centred administration which is “Putting People’s Lives First”. I believe our victory in the first national elections since the launch of the new administration will provide a strong impetus to our efforts to put our Manifesto in practice.

In addition, in elections held the same day, the DPJ-backed candidate, Tatsuro Yada, was elected as mayor of Kobe City, but unfortunately, the DPJ-backed candidates in the elections for the governor of Miyagi Prefecture and the mayor of Kawasaki City were defeated. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those who gave their support and encouragement. The DPJ will continue to work together with the inhabitants of the regions with the aim of establishing regional sovereignty.

The reforms directed at putting people’s lives first have only just begun. In order to respond to the great expectations invested in us by the people, the government and the ruling party will unite and work with all their might to realise the policies pledged in our Manifesto. I would like to ask the citizens of Japan for their continued support and encouragement.