SENDAI, MIYAGI PREF.- Opposition-backed former House of Representatives lawmaker Kazuko Kori won Sunday's mayoral election in the northeastern Japan city of Sendai, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration.

First-time independent candidate Kori, 60, supported by the Democratic Party and three other opposition parties, defeated company head Hironori Sugawara, 57, backed mainly by the pair of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.

The results in the capital of Miyagi Prefecture followed a historic rout of the LDP in the July 2 Tokyo metropolitan assembly election.

Abe, also faced with slumping public support, will announce new cabinet and LDP executive lineups on Aug. 3. But it is uncertain whether public support will recover.

The Sendai election drew attention because it was a head-on clash between the LDP-led coalition and the opposition side, as in the Tokyo assembly poll.

Voter turnout was 44.52 pct, up 14.41 percentage points from the record low marked in the previous mayoral election in 2013.

Kori, a former DP member, was also supported by the Social Democratic Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Liberal Party.

During the campaign, she was joined by lawmakers of the DP and other parties who criticized the Abe administration mainly over a favoritism scandal involving Kake Educational Institution, run by a friend of Abe.

Kori called for voter support with her promises to tackle school bullying, increase assistance to child-rearing families and the launch of scholarships to help young people establish themselves in Sendai.

Sugawara, an independent candidate, was defeated though he received support also from the Party for Japanese Kokoro, Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai and incumbent Sendai Mayor Emiko Okuyama, who will retire after serving two terms.

Kori also outdid the other two candidates, former Lower House lawmakers Hiroki Hayashi, 39, and Miyo Okubo, 40.

"The defeat in the biggest city in the Tohoku region is shocking," said an LDP lawmaker elected from the northeastern Japan region. "The LDP may lose support further." (Jiji Press)