LEAD: Murai wins Miyagi gubernatorial election

Japan Policy & Politics, Oct 24, 2005

TOKYO, Oct. 24 Kyodo

(EDS: RECASTING LEAD, ADDING 7TH-9TH GRAFS)

Former prefectural assembly member Yoshihiro Murai won the Miyagi gubernatorial election Sunday and said in a news conference Monday he will release controversial budget appropriations for local police to pay informants in investigations after the incumbent governor had suspended them.

Two incumbents, meanwhile, won in two mayoral elections in the major cities of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, and Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In Miyagi Prefecture, the 45-year-old Murai collected 363,519 votes, defeating former internal affairs ministry official Yasuyuki Maeba, 43, who obtained 311,406 votes, and former high school teachers union leader Hidetaka Deura, 62, who garnered 71,270 votes.

All ran as independents but Murai was backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Maeba by the Democratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party, and Deura by the Japanese Communist Party.

The election was called following the expiration of the term of Shiro Asano, who built a reputation as a reform-oriented governor during his 12 years in office. Asano did not seek a fourth term.

The main election issues included fiscal rehabilitation and the budget to fund police investigations, which Asano had suspended in June after determining that budgetary outlays were not being properly reported. He was the first governor in Japan to do so.

Murai restated his position about releasing on Nov. 21 the fiscal 2005 budget for police to pay for informants. ''On the day of my assuming the office, I will release it when Gov. Asano finishes his term with keeping (the budget) as is,'' he said.

''I do not believe it is necessary for me in person to look into (documents relating to informant payments) as Gov. Asano thinks,'' he said. The police have refused to disclose such documents, saying they could disrupt investigations.

Asano criticized Murai's plan, saying in a news conference Monday, ''It is necessary to make it clear to confirm if (such payments) are executed properly. This is regardless of who the governor is.''

Voter turnout stood at 40.35 percent, up 4.77 percentage points from a record-low 35.58 percent in the previous election, according to the prefectural election commission.

In Kobe, Mayor Tatsuo Yada, a 65-year-old independent, will serve a second four-year term. He was backed by the LDP and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, as well as by the DPJ and the SDP.

Two candidates challenged Yada in the election in the capital of Hyogo Prefecture because his current term is set to expire. They were independent Keiko Seto, 43, backed by the JCP, and independent Tsutomu Matsumura, 42.

Yada obtained 198,661 votes against 105,780 by Seto and 56,903 by Matsumura.

Voter turnout there dropped 7.91 points from the previous election to 30.23 percent.

Kawasaki Mayor Takao Abe, 62, will stay on for a second term in the city that borders Tokyo.

He was challenged by Hajime Okamoto, 60, an independent candidate recommended by the JCP.

Abe collected 229,021 votes against 137,767 votes by Okamoto.

Voter turnout fell 0.44 point to 36.32 percent in Kawasaki.

In the city of Saga in Saga Prefecture, independent Toshiyuki Hideshima, 63, a former municipal waterworks bureau official, defeated independent Toshiyuki Kinoshita, 45, a former Saga mayor, by 56,773 votes to 52,538 votes.

Voter turnout was 68.96 percent.