The number of people who cast their ballots under the early voting system ahead of Sunday’s election for the House of Councilors came in at 26,181,865, a record high for any national poll in the country, the internal affairs ministry said.
The figure, which was up by 6,568,390 voters from the previous Upper House election in 2022, accounted for 25.12% of all eligible voters.
The increase in early voting apparently came since the election was scheduled for the second day of a three-day weekend.
The number of early voters rose in all 47 prefectures, with Miyazaki logging the biggest increase at 49.43%. Kumamoto followed, with a climb of 44.59%, and Kochi with 43.31%.
Sunday’s voter turnout stood at 22.42% as of 4 p.m., down 0.57 percentage points from the 2022 election.
