Election results

Aichi Prefecture Gubnatorial Election:

Masaaki Kanda (LDP, Komeito)- 1,424,761 DECLARED GOVERNOR
Yoshihiro Ishida (DPJ, SDP, PNP)- 1,355,713
Seiroku Abe (JCP)- 160,827

Turnout - 52.11% (prev. 38.91%)

It also seems from an Asahi Shimbun study (05/02/07, pg.2) that Ishida had a solid majority amongst those that voted in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Floating voters were obviously overwhelming pro-opposition- an interesting prelude to the spring and summer elections!

20s 39 52 8
30s 39 55 6
40s 42 54 4
50s 44 49 7
60s 52 43 5
70s+65 31 4

(Black=Age Group; Yellow=%support for Kanda; Blue=%support for Ishida; Red=%support for Abe)

Kita-Kyushu City Mayoral Election:

Kenji Kitabashi (DPJ, SDP, PNP)- 217,262 DECLARED MAYOR
Takahiro Shibata (LDP, Komeito)- 177,675
Toshikazu Miwa (JCP)- 56,873

Turnout - 56.57% (prev. 38.32%)

#LDP = Liberal Democratic Party; DPJ = Democratic Party of Japan; SDP = Social Democratic Party; PNP = People's New Party; JCP = Communist Party of Japan

The results will obviously be a blow to the opposition, who were hoping the recent comment by Minister Yanagisawa ("baby-making machines"; see previous posts), would hand them victory in both elections. A double-win would have gone some way towards justifying both the boycott of last week's Supplementary Budget debates, and the repeated calls for Yanagisawa's resignation. As it stands, Prime Minister Abe may feel the public backlash was not large enough to justify breaking up his cabinet, and the opposition may have to be satisfied with slinking back into debates later this week, tails between legs.

R J F Villar