LDP’s Yamamoto May Run for Gunma Governor

November 5, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Ichita Yamamoto is considering running in the gubernatorial election for the eastern prefecture of Gunma slated to be held in summer next year, informed sources said Monday.

Yamamoto's six-year term as a member of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament, will expire in summer next year.

At a meeting with supporters in Takasaki in Gunma on Sunday night, Yamamoto said that he sees a fifty-fifty chance of running for the governorship or seeking another term in the Upper House.

Yamamoto, head of the LDP's Upper House Policy Research Council Board, explained that although he is an official LDP candidate for the next Upper House election, an increasing number of his supporters and other are calling on him to come back to Gunma.

He suggested that he will make a decision by the end of December after examining the opinions of Gunma residents.

Incumbent Gunma Governor Masaaki Osawa has yet to clarify whether to seek a fourth term when his four-year term of office expires in July next year. Jiji Press