Tokyo governor cruises to second term
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike renewed her commitment on Monday to fight the coronavirus outbreak, saying she would push ahead with planning for the Olympics next summer after winning reelection to a new four-year term.
In Sunday’s election, the 67-yearold garnered more than 3.66 million votes, or 60 percent of those cast, securing a landslide victory. Her nearest rival, Kenji Utsunomiya, a candidate backed by the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, won 14 percent of the vote.
“I will protect Tokyoites’ lives and livelihoods against the coronavirus, and devise an economic strategy,” Koike told reporters on Monday at the Tokyo metropolitan government office in outlining her goals for her second term.
She said she would use her energy to give priority to preventing the spread of infections, but “there is no need to ask businesses to shut down again”.
As a former television news anchor, Koike had won credit in recent months for her appearances on regular TV broadcasts asking people to stay home and businesses to reduce operations to prevent the spread of the virus.
Her response to the outbreak appeared to have given her a boost, with 60.7 percent of voters assessing it favorably, according to a recent Kyodo News poll.
However, as infections have picked up again in Tokyo, with 102 new cases reported in the capital on Monday, Koike faces growing public skepticism over the decision to hold the Olympic Games, which have been pushed back one year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Unlike her challengers who pledged to cancel the Games, Koike had been a central figure in planning for the Olympics and is eager for them to go ahead.
Declaring victory, Koike said she would work to “guarantee a safe and secure Olympics” and “minimize the additional costs of the Games”.
Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Japanese organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics, welcomed Koike’s reelection.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach also congratulated Koike. In a statement, he said: “We are fortunate to have partners like Governor Koike and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government by our side, who share our determination to make the postponed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 a symbol of hope and resilience for all humankind to overcome this pandemic.”