Tokyo votes for new governor
TOKYO: Voters in Tokyo headed to the polls yesterday with incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike heavily favoured to prevail over 21 challengers as the city tries to keep a fresh surge of Covid-19 in check and maintain hopes of hosting the Olympics in 2021.
Ms Koike, the first woman elected to govern the 14 million-strong city, has won support for her management of the pandemic. This has propelled her to a commanding lead in the polls ahead of an election that could give her a second four-year term. Voting was to run from 7am local time to 8pm, with projected results likely to be published shortly after that.
The election comes after newly confirmed cases topped 100 a day in the early days of July for the first time since May, raising worries of a second surge of infections and new restrictions on businesses such as nightclubs that are seen as centres of the spread.
Local governments have been urging residents to keep their distance from others and cast their votes in advance or early in the day to avoid crowds that could spread the coronavirus. Koike herself shunned public speeches for safety reasons, instead opting to campaign online. The average voter turnout rate was at 14.6% as of 12pm, about 4 percentage points lower than that of the previous gubernatorial election, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Election Administration Commission.
Former TV anchor Ms Koike became a constant media presence as Covid19 infections peaked in the Japanese capital in April, pressing people to stay home and businesses to shut down. Her support rate soared by 20 percentage points to around 70% between March and May, according to one poll, with many respondents rating her as one of the more effective political leaders during the crisis.
If all goes to plan, a victory could allow her to host a delayed and scaledback Tokyo Olympics next summer. In the meantime, she has pledged to prepare the capital for another wave of viral infections. Koike has faced accusations that she’s avoiding reimposing any restrictions on people’s behaviour for fear of losing voter support.
Tokyo’s gubernatorial election tends to attract a colourful array of candidates. Among Ms Koike’s more serious rivals is anti-poverty campaigner Kenji Utsunomiya, former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. Others include Masayuki Hiratsuka, who campaigned under the slogan: “Corona is just a cold”, and Taro Yamamoto, who called for the Olympics to be cancelled.
Just over four years ago, former environment minister Ms Koike gave up her seat in parliament to run in the capital’s election.