TOKYO: Regional political party Osaka Ishin no Kai won Sunday’s gubernatorial election in the western Japan prefecture of Osaka and the mayoral poll in the prefecture’s namesake capital.

Osaka Ishin also gained the majority of seats in the Osaka prefectural and city assemblies in Sunday’s elections. The party reached the majority in the city’s assembly for the first time.

Incumbent Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura, 47, head of the party, won another term, while former Osaka prefectural assembly member Hideyuki Yokoyama, 41, also the party’s candidate, was elected as Osaka mayor for the first time.

At a news conference in the city of Osaka on Sunday night, Yoshimura said that a plan proposed by his party to develop an integrated resort featuring a casino has won support from voters.

“We want the state to swiftly consider whether to approve (the plan),” he added.

In Sunday’s governorship race in the nearby prefecture of Nara, a candidate from Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), a national party affiliated with Osaka Ishin, defeated other candidates including two linked to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, one of whom is the incumbent governor.

Nippon Ishin’s Makoto Yamashita, 54, former mayor of the Nara city of Ikoma, became the first official Ishin candidate to win a gubernatorial election outside Osaka.

On the day, the first round of unified local elections was held across the country to elect governors in nine prefectures, mayors in six ordinance-designated major cities and local assembly members in 41 prefectures and 17 ordinance-designated cities.

In Hokkaido, Governor Naomichi Suzuki, 42, backed by the LDP-Komeito coalition, was re-elected, fending off challengers including one endorsed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

A ruling bloc-backed candidate, former Oita Mayor Kiichiro Sato, 65, also took the post of governor in Oita Prefecture.

In Tokushima Prefecture, former House of Representatives member Masazumi Gotoda, 53, won the governorship.

Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa, 68, Fukui Governor Tatsuji Sugimoto, 60, Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai, 61, and Shimane Governor Tatsuya Maruyama, 53, were re-elected.

Among ordinance-designated cities, Sapporo saw the victory of incumbent Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto, 67, who is aiming for the capital of Hokkaido to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Shizuoka and Hamamatsu, both in Shizuoka Prefecture, now have new mayors, former Shizuoka vice governor Takashi Nanba, 66, and former internal affairs ministry official Yusuke Nakano, 53, respectively.

Kentaro Motomura, 52, mayor of Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, 70, secured another term.

JIJI Press