ID :
159095
Sun, 02/06/2011 - 17:00
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Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/159095
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DPJ-backed candidates lose in Aichi, Nagoya elections
NAGOYA, Feb. 6 Kyodo - Candidates backed by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan have lost in both the Aichi gubernatorial and Nagoya mayoral elections Sunday, according to Kyodo News projections, dealing a fresh blow to embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Shinichiro Misono, 57, a former bureaucrat in the internal affairs ministry who was backed by the DPJ, lost in the five-candidate gubernatorial race. The DPJ's coalition partner, the People's New Party, and the Social Democratic Party also backed Misono.
Yoshihiro Ishida, 65, a former DPJ lower house member backed by the DPJ, the PNP and the SDP, also lost in the four-candidate mayoral race.
Hideaki Omura, 50, a former House of Representatives lawmaker, won the race for Aichi governor, while Takashi Kawamura, 62, won reelection as mayor of Nagoya. The elections have been seen as bellwethers for this spring's quadrennial regional elections.
The high-profile elections in Aichi and Nagoya follow the ruling coalition's failure to secure victories in major local elections since its humiliating defeat in the upper house election in July last year.
While the Cabinet's support ratings have stood at around 30 percent in recent polls, Kan and his top aides see no clear path for pushing ahead with key bills related to a fiscal 2011 budget in the divided parliament due to a lack of cooperation from opposition parties.
In Tokyo, Hajime Ishii, head of the DPJ's Election Campaign Committee, indicated the party should take the defeats seriously. Asked if the results could affect Kan's government in any way, Ishii said, ''I cannot say they will not.''
Azuma Koshiishi, head of the party's upper house caucus, said, ''We must take the results as a warning for the DPJ.'' Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who led the DPJ before Kan, said ''disappointment with existing (major) partiers'' lay behind the losses.
Omura expressed his joy, saying, ''I'll usher in a new era from now, Aichi and Nagoya.'' Kawamura said, ''Today marks the first step to move Japan forward from Nagoya and Aichi.''
The three other contenders in the gubernatorial election were Kazuhiko Shigetoku, a 40-year-old former bureaucrat in the internal affairs ministry, backed by the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiko Doi, a 64-year-old doctor backed by the Japanese Communist Party, and Michiyo Yakushiji, 46, a local college professor running on the ticket of the opposition Your Party.
In the mayoral election, Kawamura's other rivals were former House of Councillors member Hiroko Hatta, 64, backed by the JCP, and former city assembly member Hitoshi Sugiyama, 54.
Kawamura resigned as mayor in December, triggering the election, to test public opinion after the city assembly rejected his proposal for a municipal income tax cut. Omura has also proposed cutting prefectural income tax.
Meanwhile, Nagoya voters backed a motion to dissolve the city assembly in a referendum Sunday, which was held following a campaign led by Kawamura.
Shinichiro Misono, 57, a former bureaucrat in the internal affairs ministry who was backed by the DPJ, lost in the five-candidate gubernatorial race. The DPJ's coalition partner, the People's New Party, and the Social Democratic Party also backed Misono.
Yoshihiro Ishida, 65, a former DPJ lower house member backed by the DPJ, the PNP and the SDP, also lost in the four-candidate mayoral race.
Hideaki Omura, 50, a former House of Representatives lawmaker, won the race for Aichi governor, while Takashi Kawamura, 62, won reelection as mayor of Nagoya. The elections have been seen as bellwethers for this spring's quadrennial regional elections.
The high-profile elections in Aichi and Nagoya follow the ruling coalition's failure to secure victories in major local elections since its humiliating defeat in the upper house election in July last year.
While the Cabinet's support ratings have stood at around 30 percent in recent polls, Kan and his top aides see no clear path for pushing ahead with key bills related to a fiscal 2011 budget in the divided parliament due to a lack of cooperation from opposition parties.
In Tokyo, Hajime Ishii, head of the DPJ's Election Campaign Committee, indicated the party should take the defeats seriously. Asked if the results could affect Kan's government in any way, Ishii said, ''I cannot say they will not.''
Azuma Koshiishi, head of the party's upper house caucus, said, ''We must take the results as a warning for the DPJ.'' Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who led the DPJ before Kan, said ''disappointment with existing (major) partiers'' lay behind the losses.
Omura expressed his joy, saying, ''I'll usher in a new era from now, Aichi and Nagoya.'' Kawamura said, ''Today marks the first step to move Japan forward from Nagoya and Aichi.''
The three other contenders in the gubernatorial election were Kazuhiko Shigetoku, a 40-year-old former bureaucrat in the internal affairs ministry, backed by the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, Toshihiko Doi, a 64-year-old doctor backed by the Japanese Communist Party, and Michiyo Yakushiji, 46, a local college professor running on the ticket of the opposition Your Party.
In the mayoral election, Kawamura's other rivals were former House of Councillors member Hiroko Hatta, 64, backed by the JCP, and former city assembly member Hitoshi Sugiyama, 54.
Kawamura resigned as mayor in December, triggering the election, to test public opinion after the city assembly rejected his proposal for a municipal income tax cut. Omura has also proposed cutting prefectural income tax.
Meanwhile, Nagoya voters backed a motion to dissolve the city assembly in a referendum Sunday, which was held following a campaign led by Kawamura.
