a triple blow to the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party.?

Japan’s Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide is treading carefully after voters dealt a triple blow to the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

 Candidates backed by opposition parties won a re-held upper house election in the Hiroshima constituency, an upper house by-election in the Nagano constituency, and a lower house by-election for the No. 2 district in Hokkaido.

The LDP did not field a candidate in the Hokkaido contest. The seat was vacated by a former LDP lawmaker who stood down in a bribery scandal.

The Hiroshima vote also stemmed from controversy, with an LDP lawmaker being forced to quit over vote-buying.

In Nagano, the sitting member, a former land minister, died following a coronavirus infection.