Tokyo’s First Female Governor Announces Run for Re-Election
Tokyo’s First Female Governor Announces Run For Re-Election
(Bloomberg) -- Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, the first woman elected to govern the 14-million strong city, announced she would seek office again in a vote next month.
Koike told reporters Friday that she will run for another term and focus attention on preparing Tokyo in case it’s hit with a second wave of coronavirus infections. Koike is expected to cruise to victory in the July 5 election and if she wins a second four-year mandate, it would potentially allow her to host a delayed and scaled-back Olympics in 2021.
“I have been involved in the administration of Tokyo for four years,” she said at a news conference. “Running for re-election, I have the same feeling. While remembering where I started and what I was trying to do, at the same time I have to show everyone my determination.”
She vowed to set up a Tokyo version of a Centers for Disease Control and stockpile items such as masks.
Soaring Approval
The former television newscaster gained widespread support for her handling of the virus outbreak in a city with an economy larger than that of the Netherlands. A poll published last week found her approval rating had leaped by 20 percentage points in the past two months to 70%. More than three quarters of respondents said they approved of her handling of the pandemic, far higher than levels seen for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
While the fate of the $12 billion Tokyo Olympics remains in the balance as the world battles the deadly pandemic, Koike told Bloomberg in an interview this week she was not considering the possibility of canceling it. On Thursday night, she lifted a state of alert in Tokyo, and moved to a new phase in opening up businesses as cases remained steady.
Four years ago, the former environment minister gave up her seat in parliament to run in the capital’s election, pledging to slash her own salary and cut the cost of hosting the summer games. She defeated 20 rivals including one backed by Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, of which she had been a prominent member, then led a new political group to victory in the Tokyo assembly election.
Tacit Acceptance
Koike next tried to build on her success by launching a national party in a bid to topple Abe, but failed when he called a snap general election before she was fully prepared.
While known for flitting from party to party earlier in her career, Koike is likely to have at least the tacit acceptance of the LDP, which will not support a candidate against her this time around. Party Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai told reporters in May that he saw no problem backing her.
Lawyer and anti-poverty campaigner Kenji Utsunomiya announced on Twitter that he was planning to run, while Kumamoto prefecture’s deputy governor, Taisuke Ono, announced his candidacy last week.
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