The Japan NewsFormer Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, 64, was assured of victory in Sunday’s Tokyo gubernatorial election, becoming the first female governor of the capital, according to tallies by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
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Koike is a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Her main rivals were former internal affairs minister Hiroya Masuda, the preferred choice of the LDP-Komeito ruling coalition, and veteran journalist Shuntaro Torigoe, who was backed by the main opposition bloc led by the Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party.
Scandals linked to the Games forced the last two governors to resign.
Koike’s four-year term will extend until just after the Olympic Games start and her performance in the run-up will be scrutinized closely. Masuda, a former ministry bureaucrat, was chosen the official ruling party candidate, but Koike chose to still run and appears to be popular.
Koike won the Tokyo election despite failing to obtain the LDP’s backing.
In order to address the shortage of day care facilities for young children, Koike pledged to loosen regulations to increase the number of care workers. He said he made a decision to enter the race after the House of Councillors election on July 10 brought reform of Japan’s pacifist Constitution closer to the reach of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration.
Torigoe had laid a libel complaint against weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun during the campaign over its coverage of a sexual harassment allegation against him dating from 2002. But about 30 percent of voters were undecided.
Masuda promised to bolster steps against cyberattacks and terrorism ahead of the Tokyo Games in 2020.
The major challenge facing the victor is managing the run-up to Tokyo’s troubled hosting of the 2020 Summer Olympics, especially reining in soaring costs.
The 64-year-old Koike, who belongs to the LDP, gained broad support that went beyond party frameworks.
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As a former TV anchorwoman, she speaks fluent English and Arabic – the latter acquired as a student in Cairo – and served as both defence minister and environment minister. He had come under fire for using official cars on frequent visits to his vacation home and for large spending on overseas business trips. Japans capital, with a population of more than 13 million people, is voting Sunday, July 31, 2016, for its leader after two predecessors resigned over money scandals as Tokyo prepares to host the 2020 Olympics and hopes to lead the nation in an economic turnaround.
