The Democratic Party of Japan won two Upper House by-elections Oct. 25, the first national-level races since Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office in September.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, economist Yoichi Kaneko, 47, of the DPJ defeated Hiroko Tsunoda, a former Yokohama Municipal Assembly member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Masahiko Okada of the Japanese Communist Party and Bunko Kato of the Happiness Realization Party.

In Shizuoka Prefecture, Hirokazu Tsuchida, 59, a medical doctor, defeated the LDP's Shigeki Iwai, a college lecturer, and two other contenders.

Gaining a favorable wind from the elections, the Hatoyama administration is expected to accelerate its campaign to cut government waste. Meanwhile, the LDP, which elected Sadakazu Tanigaki as its new leader in September, is likely to be forced to review its election strategy.

With the two victories, the DPJ holds 115 seats in the Upper House, seven short of a simple majority. The party is now in a strong position to reach that milestone on its own in the big Upper House election next summer.