Photo/Illutration The Okinawa city government building (Provided by The Okinawa Times)

OKINAWA, Okinawa Prefecture--The incumbent mayor of Okinawa won re-election on April 24, the latest in a string of blows dealt to Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki’s All Okinawa group.

Sachio Kuwae, 66, who ran as an independent and was endorsed by the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, will start his third term as mayor.

His opponent, Masakazu Moriyama, 73, is a former Okinawa city assembly member. He was backed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, the local Okinawa Social Mass Party.

He was also supported by the All Okinawa group an alliance of political forces that support Tamaki and oppose the central government's planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to the Henoko district of Nago in the prefecture.

Kuwae gained 29,738 votes while Moriyama received 19,649 votes. Voter turnout was the lowest on record at 45.14 percent, down from the last election's 47.27 percent. There were 110,289 eligible voters.

This is the fourth mayoral election in Okinawa Prefecture this year. Mayoral candidates supported by the LDP also won in Nago, Nanjo and Ishigaki in earlier races.

Moriyama’s defeat is the latest blow to Tamaki and his group, and it lands just ahead of this summer’s Upper House election and the Okinawa gubernatorial election this fall.

The LDP had thrown its full support behind Kuwae.

Yuko Obuchi, a Lower House member and the chairperson of the LDP's Research Commission for the Promotion and Development of Okinawa, along with other lawmakers, had visited the city in support of his bid. Kuwae also took advantage of his name recognition as the incumbent.

Tamaki had meanwhile attempted to prop up Moriyama's election bid by stumping with him in the streets at the start of campaigning and again toward the end.

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