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Candidates backed by Hashimoto's political group win Osaka governor, mayor elections

Xinhua, November 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Two candidates backed by Osaka Restoration Association, a local political group led by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, won the gubernatorial and mayoral elections in Osaka on Sunday, local media reported.

Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui, 51 years old, was re-elected for a second four-year term in Sunday's gubernatorial election after defeating two other candidates, including a former Osaka prefectural assembly member recommended by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Hirofumi Yoshimura, former House of Representatives member, won the Osaka mayoral election against three other candidates, including Akira Yanagimoto, a former Osaka city assembly member recommended by the LDP.

The election results came as a victory for Osaka Restoration Association, the political group led by Hashimoto, as both Matsui and Yoshimura were backed by the group.

Hashimoto, who served as prefectural governor from 2008 and became mayor of Osaka in 2011, has been vigorously pushing for the Osaka Metropolis plan, which aims to reform the administrative system and create a metropolitan Osaka government like Tokyo.

Both Matsui and Yoshimura said in their campaigns that they would continue to push forward the administrative reform advocated by Hashimoto, though the metropolis plan has been rejected in a tight referendum this May by citizens of Osaka.

The electoral victories of Matsui and Yoshimura were also considered by analysts as a boost to the newly-founded national political party Osaka Ishin no Kai, which was formed with defectors from the opposition Japan Innovation Party and has an eye on the House of Councilors elections next summer.

The new party, also led by Hashimoto, has been keeping a distance from opposition parties and aligned with the ruling coalition in areas such as constitutional amendment. Endit