In a major political blow to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, opposition party-backed Takeharu Yamanaka was elected as mayor of Yokohama on Sunday, defeating former National Public Safety Commission Chairman Hachiro Okonogi who had the full support of the prime minister.
A record eight candidates -- incumbent Fumiko Hayashi, whose term will expire later this month, and seven first-time candidates -- ran in the election. The campaign was dominated by two issues -- whether the city should allow an integrated resort (IR) with casinos, and how it should deal with the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
Yamanaka, 48, a data scientist and former Yokohama City University professor, was backed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan with endorsements from the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.
As a COVID-19 expert, the independent Yamanaka touted the achievements of his research into neutralizing antibodies, which earned him support from unaffiliated voters and the elderly. As coronavirus infections spread rapidly during the campaign period, he succeeded as an outlet for voter frustration with the government's COVID-19 measures.
As for the IR project, Yamanaka stressed an "immediate withdrawal, firm stand against" policy, which gained him wide support from citizens groups opposed to the project and the shipping industry.
Okonogi, 56, who had been a House of Representatives member from the Liberal Democratic Party, changed his stance from favoring the project to calling for it to be scrapped, saying, "The public's trust has not been obtained."
The LDP was split on the issue of bringing in IRs, and decided not to endorse Okonogi as a party, instead leaving support up to individual party members. The majority of LDP city assembly members followed the lead of Suga, who has close ties with Okonogi, in supporting him. Ruling coalition partner Komeito also left it up to individual members, but substantially backed Okonogi as well.
However, public dissatisfaction with the government's COVID-19 policy caused a backlash against Suga-aligned Okonogi and he was unable to build a groundswell of support. Suga has been at the forefront of the promotion of IRs, and the split between Okonogi and him on that issue also appeared to have an effect.
The incumbent mayor Hayashi, 75, had firmly supported the IR project, stressing its importance as a means of rebuilding the city's finances in the future, She had the support of IR advocates from the business world and some LDP members in her bid for a fourth term, but was too busy dealing with the coronavirus to get out and campaign effectively.
Voter turnout in Sunday's election was 49.05%, sharply up from the 37.21% who turned out in the previous election.
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