Sunday's Osaka, Kyoto races expected to influence Diet

Japan Policy & Politics, Feb 7, 2000

OSAKA, Feb. 4 Kyodo

Voting will take place in the Osaka gubernatorial and Kyoto mayoral elections Sunday, and the outcomes of the two races are expected to influence the Diet sessions, which are being boycotted by the opposition, observers said Friday. In both Osaka and Kyoto, candidates with multiple-party support are running against Japanese Communist Party (JCP) candidates. Among four candidates in the Osaka race, Fusae Ota, 48, a former senior official at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, is backed by five ruling and opposition parties. She is taking the lead over her two major rivals -- Makoto Ajisaka, 66, and Tatsuto Hiraoka, 59, according to a Kyodo News poll. Ota is supported by the three ruling parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Liberal Party, and the New Komeito -- as well as the Reformers Network Party, a parliamentary ally of New Komeito, and the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Ajisaka, professor emeritus at Kansai University, is backed by the JCP. He has garnered more support than Hiraoka, managing director of local private-school group Seifu Gakuen, who enjoys backing from the LDP's Osaka prefectural chapter, the Kyodo poll said. Ajisaka enjoys majority backing from JCP supporters and draws the rest of his support mainly from Social Democratic Party and DPJ backers. Ota has gained support by stressing her experience as Okayama vice governor and pledging to become the nation's first female prefectural head. Her support may have been shaken, however, by confrontation in the Diet between the three ruling parties and the opposition, including the DPJ, over a bill to cut the number of seats in the House of Representatives. The opposition camp is boycotting Diet sessions, and has attacked the ruling parties' handling of the bill, which was enacted Wednesday. Ajisaka, who challenged former Gov. Knock Yokoyama in the gubernatorial election last spring, is criticizing candidates jointly backed by several parties. Hiraoka has emphasized decentralization and the fact he is a native of Osaka. Osaka had almost seven million eligible voters as of Jan. 29. The election follows the resignation of Yokoyama last December, just prior to his indictment for sexual harassment. In Kyoto, three candidates are vying for the mayoral post, but the race seems to be a de facto duel between Kichiro Inoue, 54, a civic group leader backed by the JCP, and incumbent Mayor Yorikane Masumoto, 59, supported by six parties including the three ruling parties and the DPJ. Whether voter turnout, which failed to reach 50% in the city's past seven mayoral elections, will top the halfway mark is the focus of the race, as candidates have been seeking support from nonpartisan voters. Kyoto city has 1,138,532 eligible voters. Results of the two elections will be known around 10:30 p.m. Sunday.