6 Candidates Run for Shizuoka Governor Election

Shizuoka, May 9 (Jiji Press)--Six people filed their candidacies for the May 26 gubernatorial election in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Thursday, with voters expected to focus on the candidates’ responses to the planned Chuo Shinkansen magnetic levitation line.

The six include Shinichi Omura, 60 a former deputy governor of Shizuoka who is backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Yasutomo Suzuki, 66, former mayor of the city of Hamamatsu in the prefecture supported by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, and Daisuke Mori, 55, prefectural chairman of the Japanese Communist Party.

The other three are former company employee Masafumi Yokoyama, 56, home business owner Takeshi Murakami, 73, and company president Satomi Hamanaka, 62.

Among other major parties, Komeito, the LDP’s junior coalition partner, has not endorsed any candidate.

The election comes after Governor Heita Kawakatsu abruptly announced his resignation early last month, following his latest gaffe. Kawakatsu had refused to approve the start of construction of the maglev line in Shizuoka.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]