Yuzaki wins Hiroshima gubernatorial election

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Hidehiko Yuzaki, a 44-year-old former trade ministry bureaucrat, won the gubernatorial election in Hiroshima Prefecture Sunday, replacing outgoing Gov. Yuzan Fujita.

Trading places: Former trade ministry bureaucrat Hidehiko Yuzaki poses at his campaign headquarters after it appeared certain he would win the Hiroshima gubernatorial election. KYODO PHOTO

Backed by Fujita supporters among Liberal Democratic Party members of the prefectural assembly, as well as by members of the Democratic Party of Japan, Yuzaki defeated four other contenders and secured his first four-year term in the governor's office.

The other contenders included Anri Kawai, a 36-year-old former prefectural assemblywoman endorsed by LDP assembly members critical of the Fujita administration, as well as by Shizuka Kamei, state minister in charge of postal and financial affairs, who leads the People's New Party.

The three other candidates were Shoji Murakami, 62, fielded by the Japanese Communist Party, Michiko Shibasaki, 54, a former prefectural assembly member, and Yasuhiro Kawamoto, 42, a cram school operator.

The focus of the election was on whether voters would choose someone who would continue to pursue the administrative and financial reform drive initiated by Fujita, 60, who governed the western Japan prefecture for 16 years.

Fujita is leaving office after four four-year terms as governor.

During the election campaign, Yuzaki stressed his administrative experience as a former trade ministry bureaucrat, and from establishing and running a company.

He also appears to have secured support from the local business community by calling for regional economic policies such as promoting tourism in the Seto Inland Sea area.