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Tokyo held a gubernatorial election on February 9, 2014 to replace outgoing Governor Naoki Inose, who resigned effective December 24, 2013. Yoichi Masuzoe was declared the winner in exit polling, with a substantial lead over the fifteen other candidates. His final tally was 2,112,979 votes (42.86%), with his two closest competitors Morihiro Hosokawa and Kenji Utsunomiya failing to break the 20% mark.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://sokuho.h26tochijisen.metro.tokyo.jp/h26chi_kai.html )〕 Total turnout was 4,930,251 (46.14%), significantly lower than the 62.6% turnout in the 2012 election.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://sokuho.h26tochijisen.metro.tokyo.jp/h26chi_tou_2200.html )〕 ==Background== Tokyo governor Naoki Inose abruptly resigned in December 2013 following a month-long investigation into a political funds scandal. His resignation came in the midst of various preparations for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which had been awarded to Tokyo earlier in the year, including the formation of an organization committee (due by February 2014), the allocation of 10.3 billion yen in Olympics-related funding, and negotiation with the national government over the construction of the new National Olympic Stadium. The election campaign was set to officially begin on January 23, 2014〔 and was one of three critical electoral tests for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in early 2014, along with the January 19 mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa (widely viewed as a referendum on the relocation plan of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma), in which the incumbent mayor, who is against the plan, was re-elected, and the late February gubernatorial election in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Yoichi Masuzoe was initially seen as the strongest candidate in the race due to his popularity and support from the LDP. In mid-January, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa emerged as a second strong candidate with the backing of former LDP Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, with his platform focusing on opposition to the restart of nuclear power generation in Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated his concern that the campaign would focus on the nuclear issue at the expense of other issues. Masuzoe, who supported a gradual phase-out of nuclear power, stated that "choosing the Tokyo governor based (solely) on whether they favor or oppose nuclear power seems odd."〔 Masuzoe was endorsed by the LDP and New Komeito, while Hosokawa was endorsed by the Democratic Party of Japan, People's Life Party and Unity Party (Japan), and the Social Democratic Party of Japan and Japanese Communist Party endorsed former Japan Federation of Bar Associations president Kenji Utsunomiya. There were 10.8 million eligible voters, a new all-time high.〔Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 23 January 2014: (都知事選、有権者最多の1082万人 ) (limited access)〕 Of these, 7.4 million lived in special wards, 3.3 million in cities, less than 0.1 million in the towns and villages in West Tama and on the islands.〔Tokyo Metropolitan election commission, 22 January 2014: (平成２６年２月９日執行東京都知事選挙における選挙人名簿登録者数 )〕 In the first three days of early voting (possible from the day after the official campaign start), turnout increased tenfold compared to the same period in the previous gubernatorial election of 2012; but in 2012, the national House of Representatives election was held together with the gubernatorial election, and the legal campaign period for Representatives elections is twelve days – five days less than in elections for prefectural governors, so many early voters in 2012 waited until the official start of the lower house campaign to cast their ballots in both elections. Compared to the 2011 gubernatorial election when no national election was held simultaneously, turnout in the first three days of early voting increased by 60%.〔Tōkyō Shimbun, 28 January 2014: (都知事選 期日前投票数 前々回同時期の１．６倍 )〕 A blizzard struck eastern Japan on the day before the election, bringing the most snow seen in Tokyo in two decades. Residual snow on the streets impacted voter turnout on election day. On the remote island of Haha-jima in Ogasawara village, the election was held one day earlier than in the rest of Tokyo ''(kuriage-tōhyō)'', i.e. the election day is February 8.〔(Ogasawara Newsletter No. 624, election special edition, 10 January 2014 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2014」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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