THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
February 21, 2022 at 16:55 JST
Kengo Oishi on the campaign trail on Feb. 13, a week before he won the Nagasaki gubernatorial election (Tetsuya Ishikura)
NAGASAKI—Following a rare split within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Kengo Oishi won the Nagasaki gubernatorial election on Feb. 20 and became the youngest governor in Japan.
The 39-year-old doctor defeated both the incumbent governor, Hodo Nakamura, 71, who was seeking his fourth term, and another rookie candidate, Yoshihiko Miyazawa, 54, who runs a food consulting firm.
All three candidates ran as independents.
Oishi gained 239,415 votes, followed closely by Nakamura at 238,874.
“I called for a generational change in leadership, and this is a victory for all of you who sympathized with my call,” Oishi told his supporters in Nagasaki late on Feb. 20, after he learned he was certain to win.
“I will design the future of Nagasaki Prefecture to allow all generations to live their lives without any worries,” he said.
The voter turnout rate was 47.83 percent, up from 36.03 percent in the previous election.
For the first time in about half a century, the LDP was split over which candidate to support in a Nagasaki gubernatorial election.
The LDP prefectural chapter was dissatisfied with Nakamura’s policies and management, even though it had backed him for his last three terms.
That dissatisfaction prompted Oishi to run. But his candidacy was opposed by Diet members in the LDP prefectural chapter and half of its prefectural assembly members, who wanted Nakamura to be re-elected again.
Oishi gained a wide range of support after he received the backing of the LDP prefectural chapter and Osaka-based Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party).
Nakamura was supported by the prefectural chapters of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, and was endorsed by about 2,000 organizations and groups, including Rengo Nagasaki, the local branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation.
But that was not enough for him to win another term.
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