2009 gubernatorial elections in Japan

In 2009 , gubernatorial elections were held in nine prefectures in Japan between January and November .

Note: Most candidates run as non-party in gubernatorial elections; therefore the party affiliations are not listed separately in the election results and only the recommendations and formal support given by the parties are listed. In the following, no distinction is made between support for national parties and prefectural associations.

January 25, 2009

Yamagata

In the first gubernatorial election of the year in Yamagata Prefecture , Mieko Yoshimura, with the support of the center-left parties, narrowly beat the LDP-supported incumbent Hiroshi Saitō with a high turnout.

Result of the 17th gubernatorial election in Yamagata

candidate	Support parties				be right	proportion of
Mieko Yoshimura				DP , KPJ , SDP	320.324	50.85%
Hiroshi Saitō				LDP	309.612	49.15%
total					629.936	100.00%
invalid votes					3,403	0.54%
voter turnout					633.360	65.51%

Gifu

In the prefecture of Gifu , incumbent Hajime Furuta prevailed against only one Communist candidate for a second term. The turnout fell from 43.5 percent in 2005 by five percentage points.

Result of the 17th gubernatorial election in Gifu

candidate	Support parties			be right	proportion of
Hajime Furuta			LDP , Kōmeitō	514.112	80.52%
Kazuhiko Kinoshita			KPJ	124,378	19.48%
total				638.490	100.00%
invalid votes				9.233	1.43%
voter turnout				647.723	38.44%

March 29, 2009: Chiba

In Chiba , Governor Akiko Dōmoto did not run after two terms. Five candidates applied for her successor, including the former actor Kensaku Morita , who had challenged Dōmoto in 2005, Taira Yoshida, who enjoyed the support of the national opposition parties, and the former professor at Kansai University Masumi Shiraishi. The LDP Chiba could not decide whether to support Morita, Yoshida or Shiraishi and did not make a unified recommendation.

With voter turnout up by two percent, Morita prevailed.

Result of the Chiba gubernatorial election

candidate	Support parties					be right	proportion of
Kensaku Morita					(unofficial / partially: LDP )	1,015,978	45.54%
Taira Yoshida					DP , SDP , NVP , NPJ (unofficial / partially: LDP )	636.991	28.56%
Masumi Shiraishi					(unofficial / partially: LDP )	346.002	15.51%
Fusayuki Hatta					KPJ	136,551	6.12%
Ken'ichi Nishio						95,228	4.27%
total						2,230,750	100.00%
invalid votes						21,397	0.95%
voter turnout						2,252,177	45.56%

April 12, 2009: Akita

In Akita Prefecture, four candidates applied to succeed Governor Sukeshiro Terata : Norihisa Satake , the previous mayor of the prefecture capital Akita and chairman of the conference of mayors of independent cities, Hiroshi Kawaguchi , so far mayor of Kosaka , Shōichirō Satō, former mayor of Ugo and already in 2005 Gubernatorial candidate, and the communist Kaneji Fujimoto.

The voter turnout recovered from the low of 2005 (63.0%) and rose to 67.4 percent. Satake, the heir of the former aristocratic family Satake , prevailed with a 55,000 vote lead over Kawaguchi . Kawaguchi became a Member of the House of Commons for Akita 2nd constituency in September 2009.

Result of the 17th gubernatorial election in Akita

candidate	Support parties			be right	proportion of
Norihisa Satake			LDP , SDP	291.150	47.06%
Hiroshi Kawaguchi			DP	234,340	37.88%
Shōichirō Satō			-	77,178	12.48%
Kaneji Fujimoto			KPJ	15,991	2.58%
total				618,659	100.00%
invalid votes etc.				5,348	0.86%
voter turnout				624.007	67.39%

July 5, 2009

On July 5, a week before the national parliamentary election in Tokyo, gubernatorial elections were held in two prefectures: In Shizuoka , a successor to Yoshinobu Ishikawa , who resigned shortly before the end of his term in office, was elected; Since the two major parties supported different candidates, the election was considered, in addition to the Tokyo prefectural parliamentary election, as a mood test for the election to the national lower house, due before autumn 2009 . In Hyōgo , Toshizō Ido applied as a de facto all-party candidate ( ainori ) against only one Communist challenger for a third term.

Shizuoka

Governor Ishikawa resigned over the late opening of the controversial Shizuoka Airport in May. With the support of the national governing parties , the previous LDP upper house representative for Shizuoka Yukiko Sakamoto , the center-left opposition parties supported Heita Kawakatsu , previously professor at Shizuoka Bunka Geijutsu Daigaku and former government advisor , applied for his successor . In addition, Tōru Unno , former mayor of the prefecture capital Shizuoka and DP upper house deputy for Shizuoka, and the communist Sadayoshi Hirano ran.

With a significant increase in voter turnout (+16.6), Kawakatsu narrowly prevailed.

Result of the 17th gubernatorial election in Shizuoka

candidate	Support parties				be right	proportion of
Heita Kawakatsu				DP , SDP , NVP	728.706	39.58%
Yukiko Sakamoto				LDP , Kōmeitō	713.657	38.76%
Tōru Unno				-	332,952	18.09%
Sadayoshi Hirano				KPJ	65,669	3.57%
total					1,840,984	100.00%
invalid votes etc.					13,964	0.75%
voter turnout					1,854,948	61.06%

Hyogo

With only slightly recovered voter turnout (2005: 33.3%; 2001: 56.2%), Governor Ido's communist challenger Kōtarō Tanaka received almost a third of the votes.

Result of the gubernatorial election in Hyogo

candidate	Support parties				be right	proportion of
Toshizō Ido				LDP , Kōmeitō , SDP	1,087,279	68.84%
Kōtaro Tanaka				KPJ	492.140	31.16%
total					1,579,419	100.00%
invalid votes etc.					33,573	2.08%
voter turnout					1,612,992	36.02%

August 30, 2009: Ibaraki

In Ibaraki Prefecture , the 2009 gubernatorial election coincided with the national lower house election . Governor Masaru Hashimoto ran for a fifth term. In contrast to his last re-elections, when there was only one CPY-backed opponent candidate, five candidates ran against Hashimoto in 2009, including former MLIT official and State Secretary Masato Obata, who enjoyed the support of the LDP, cyclist Tomohiro Nagatsuka , and Takako Mamiya, who was the Communist candidate for governor in 2005. Nevertheless, Hashimoto won through with a high turnout.

Result of the 17th gubernatorial election in Ibaraki

candidate	Support parties		be right	proportion of
Masaru Hashimoto		-	743.945	47.10%
Masato Obata		LDP	318,605	20.17%
Tomohiro Nagatsuka		-	264.150	16.73%
Takako Mamiya		KPJ	177,309	11.23%
Katsuyuki Morikawa		-	41,494	2.63%
Takashi Kakihara		-	33,863	2.14%
total			1,579,366	100.00%
invalid votes			55.041	3.37%
voter turnout			1,634,407	67.97%

October 25, 2009: Miyagi

In Miyagi Prefecture , Governor Yoshihiro Murai was challenged by Yasuo Endo, a former member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations who was supported by the now nationally ruling center-left parties. With voter turnout up around six percent, Murai was confirmed in office for another four years by an overwhelming majority.

Result of the 19th gubernatorial election in Miyagi

candidate	Support parties				be right	proportion of
Yoshihiro Murai				-	647.734	74.09%
Yasuo Endo				DP , SDP , NVP	174,702	19.98%
Miyuki Amashita				KPJ	51,848	5.93%
total					874.284	100.00%
invalid votes etc.					5,206	0.59%
voter turnout					879,490	46.57%

November 8, 2009: Hiroshima

Yūzan Fujita , governor of Hiroshima , had retired after four terms. Five candidates applied for the successor. Hidehiko Yuzaki , a former MITI official, was supported by the largest factions in the prefectural parliament and by Fujita and won with an absolute majority of the votes cast. The best-placed rival candidate was Anri Kawai, member of the prefectural parliament and wife of LDP lower house member Katsuyuki Kawai .

Result of the gubernatorial election in Hiroshima

candidate	Support parties		be right	proportion of
Hidehiko Yuzaki		- (unofficial / partially: LDP , DP )	395,638	52.31%
Anri Kawai		-	195,623	25.87%
Shōji Murakami		KPJ	77,515	10.25%
Yasuhiro Kawamoto		-	57,846	7.65%
Michiko Shibasaki		-	29,646	3.92%
total			756.268	100.00%
invalid votes etc.			21,460	2.76%
voter turnout			777.728	33.71%

Web links

• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication : gubernatorial election results
• Todōfuken Senkyo Kanri Iiinkai Rengōkai (Japanese for "Association of Prefectural Election Oversight Commissions ", English misleading National Election Administration Committee )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Yamagata Prefecture Election Oversight Commission : Turnout and Results
2. ↑ Gifu Prefecture Electoral Supervision Commission: Turnout and Results
3. ↑ Chiba Prefecture Electoral Supervision Commission: Turnout and Results
4. ↑ Akita Prefecture Electoral Supervision Commission: Governor's Election and By-election for the Prefectural Parliament 2009
5. ↑ Shizuoka Prefecture Electoral Oversight Commission: 2009 Gubernatorial Election
6. ↑ Hyogo Prefecture Electoral Supervision Commission: 2009 Governor Election
7. ↑ Ibaraki Prefecture's Election Supervision Commission: House of Commons, Governors, Prefecture Parliament by- elections and referendum on the judges at the Supreme Court 2009 ( Memento of the original from October 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Shizuoka Prefecture Electoral Oversight Commission: 2009 Gubernatorial Election