Abstract
Through a series of decentralization reforms and a merger of municipalities, cities have increased both the scale and extent of their authority. Mayoral elections have also continued to change. On the one hand, non-competitive elections (where the governing and opposition parties support the same candidate) have decreased, while an opposing trend in increased nonpartisanship has emerged. These changes have been identified in previous studies, but due to difficulties in data collection, an overall accurate representation of these trends is yet to be produced. This article aims not only to provide up to date, salient data on the participation of both the LDP and DPJ's involvement in mayoral elections, but also to accurately depict the qualities of this new data through comparison to studies conducted on mayoral elections under the 1955 system. Through the analytical methods used in this study, an attempt will be made to clarify the regularities that can be identified in the involvement of the major political parties in the mayoral election process.
