TOKYO: Polling stations opened on Sunday morning for Tokyo’s gubernatorial election, in which a record 56 candidates have filed their candidacies and promoted their policies on child-rearing support, administrative reform and disaster prevention.

The polling stations will close by 8 p.m., and vote counting will begin immediately.

The number of registered voters in the Japanese capital was 11,533,132 as of June 19. Voter turnout in the previous gubernatorial election in 2020 was 55 percent.

The candidates include incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike, 71, Shinji Ishimaru, the 41-year-old former mayor of Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, former Air Self-Defense Force chief of staff Toshio Tamogami, 75, and former House of Councillors lawmaker Renho, 56.

Voting is also underway in by-elections for the Tokyo metropolitan assembly, with a total of 30 candidates in nine electoral districts.

JIJI Press