3 People File Candidacies for Niigata Governorship

May 24, 2018

Niigata- Three people filed Thursday their candidacies for the governorship of Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, in an election that could affect national politics.

The three independent candidates for the June 10 gubernatorial election are Satoshi Annaka, 40, a former member of the assembly of the Niigata city of Gosen, Hideyo Hanazumi, 60, former vice commandant of the Japan Coast Guard, and Chikako Ikeda, 57, a former prefectural assembly member.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition ally, Komeito, support Hanazumi, while the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties back Ikeda as their unified candidate.

The election is designed to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Ryuichi Yoneyama, who quit as governor of Niigata last month over his affairs with women.

The gubernatorial race had already bean heating up before the campaign period began on Thursday, as senior officials of both the ruling and opposition camps have been visiting the prefecture to rally support for candidates they back.

The result of the election could have an impact on the fate of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to win a third term as LDP president in a party leadership poll this autumn.

The focus of the Niigata election is expected to be on nuclear policy, in particular the issue of whether to restart Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in the prefecture.

Hanazumi and Ikeda are both cautious about the restart of the nuclear plant, and Ikeda intends to focus more on her policy of realizing zero nuclear power. Annaka has been seeking to abolish nuclear power.

Hanazumi intends to vow to win back the trust of the prefectural government following Yoneyama's resignation. Jiji Press