The results in both these elections represent for the JCP a record-breaking achievement and a major advance in its drive for political change in the 21st century.

In the prefectural assembly elections the JCP bagged 4.26 million votes, a 1.87 million increase over the previous elections. The JCP votes were about 10.5 per cent of the total number of votes and the party stood second in terms of its vote share, after only the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In the elections in major cities, the JCP bagged 1.09 million votes, an increase of 0.35 million over the previous elections.

There is one more significant aspect to the JCP record in these polls. While there are 253 women among the new assembly members, the JCP alone accounts for 101, or 40 per cent. This figure is higher than the combined number of women members (81) belonging to five other parties, i e, the LDP, Democratic Party of Japan, Liberal Party, Komei Party and the Social Democratic Party. This is indicative of the important contribution the JCP has been making to the advancement of women in political field.

After these elections, the JCP now has 185 members in a total 47 prefectural assemblies, very close to 194 members of the Komei Party and 187 of the Democratic Party of Japan. As a result, the JCP now has a right to submit bills in the Hyogo and Kochi prefectures, in addition to the Tokyo and Kyoto prefectures where it had won this right earlier.

As for 12 major cities, excluding Kitakyushu city in Fukuoka prefecture where this time no election was held, the JCP now has 130 seats, replacing the Democratic Party of Japan from third position in the nation as a whole. The JCP ranks second in Kawasaki city in Kanagawa prefecture while it already ranked second in Kyoto city. The JCP has now the right to submit bills in Sapporo and Nagoya cities while it had already won this right in six cities -- Chiba, Kawasaki, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Kitakyushu.

Significantly, in the prefectural assembly elections, the LDP got the lowest number of seats to date -- 134 less than it had won in the last elections. This represents a severe stricture of the voters against the LDP type of politics, and casts doubts on the genuineness of the LDP's majority in the House of Representatives at national level. Given this fact, there is a demand that the House of Representatives must be dissolved and new general elections held to enable the people to elect a truly representative House of Representatives.