LDP-Backed Koja Certain to Win Okinawa Governor Poll

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Sept. 13 (Jiji Press)–Genta Koja is certain to win Sunday’s gubernatorial election in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, bringing the Liberal Democratic Party back into power in the prefectural government for the first time in 12 years. The 42-year-old former vice mayor of Naha, Okinawa’s capital, was up against 66-year-old Denny Tamaki, who had sought a third term as Okinawa governor, and four other candidates. Koja was endorsed by the LDP, which is the ruling party in national politics, and its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, as well as the Democratic Party for the People, Sanseito, the Conservative Party of Japan and Komeito’s Okinawa prefectural chapter. Meanwhile, Tamaki was backed by the All Okinawa camp, also receiving support from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. As of 7 :30 p.m., voter turnout stood at 29.65 pct, up 3.58 percentage points from the previous gubernatorial election, held in 2022. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]