Ex-Sports Agency Chief Suzuki Not to Run for Chiba Governor

October 29, 2020

Tokyo- Former Japan Sports Agency Commissioner Daichi Suzuki, 53, will not run in the next gubernatorial election in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, it was learned Thursday.

Suzuki has told a senior official of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Chiba prefectural chapter of his intention not to run for governor, sources said. Incumbent Chiba Governor Kensaku Morita's current four-year term is set to end in April 2021.

The LDP Chiba chapter had been considering fielding Suzuki, an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

But Suzuki's possible bid for the governorship was opposed by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, president of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics, which have been postponed by one year to 2021 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to the sources.

Mori, viewed as a patron for Suzuki, suggested his objections at his meeting on Wednesday with Hiromichi Watanabe, who is a member of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, and serves as head of the LDP Chiba chapter, the sources said. Specifically, Mori said he wants Suzuki to continue playing his role in the sports world, according to the sources.

Suzuki, who was also present in the meeting, did not say anything in the gathering. But he later called Watanabe and informed the LDP lawmaker of his decision not to run in the gubernatorial race, saying, "I'm sorry."

Some LDP lawmakers appear to be backing Toshihito Kumagai, 42, mayor of the city of Chiba, the prefecture's capital, who is believed to have decided to run in the governorship poll.

Mori was apparently concerned that the party could split in the Chiba election if both Suzuki and Kumagai run in the race.

Morita, 70, who is now in his third term as Chiba governor, has not clarified whether he will seek a fourth term.

Suzuki won a gold medal in the men's 100-meter backstroke in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. He served as the first commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency between October 2015 and September this year. Jiji Press