Shōmei Yokouchi

Shōmei Yokouchi ( Japanese 横 内 正 明 , Yokouchi Shōmei ; born March 2, 1942 in Nirasaki , Yamanashi Prefecture ; † April 21, 2020 ) was a Japanese politician . He was governor of Yamanashi from 2007 to 2015.

Yokouchi, a graduate of Tokyo University's Law Faculty , became a civil servant at the Ministry of Construction after graduating in 1964 . There he was from 1984 department head ( kachō ) in the street department, from 1995 in the city department. In 1990 he became deputy head of the ministerial secretariat ( daijin kambō shingikan ).

For the 1993 Shūgiin election , Yokouchi switched to politics and stood as an independent in the five-mandate Yamanashi constituency, which included the entire prefecture. With the fourth-highest share of the vote, he was elected to the Shūgiin for the first of a total of three terms - from 1996 for the new single constituency Yamanashi 3 - and joined the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). During the second Hashimoto Cabinet , he was Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice in 1997 , and from 2001 to 2002 he was “Deputy Minister” for Justice in the first Koizumi Cabinet .

In 2002, Yokouchi resigned his parliamentary seat to run in the 2003 gubernatorial election in Yamanashi to succeed Ken Amano , who did not run again. In a field of four candidates he was defeated by 158 to 167 thousand votes to Takahiko Yamamoto , who enjoyed the support of Amano and both major parties. Then Yokouchi ran in the July 2004 election on the LDP proportional representation for the Sangiin , but received just under 114,000 votes, reaching 19th place on the list and thus missing a seat, since the LDP only won 15 proportional representation.

In the next gubernatorial election in Yamanashi in 2007 , Yokouchi ran again at the urging of Furusato Yamanashi o kangaeru kai ("Society that thinks of the Yamanashi homeland"), the former support organization of gubernatorial candidate Yukihiko Inoue in the 2003 election, and this time Yamamoto won with 235 Beat 188 thousand votes. Yokouchi's first term ended in February 2011, in the election on January 30th he applied as an "ainori" candidate, with the support of all major parties with the exception of the CPY , for a second term and was at 42 percent voter turnout with 83 percent Votes confirmed in office.

Web links

• Yamanashi Prefecture , Governor's Office: Brief Biography (Japanese)
• Furusato Yamanashi o kangaeru kai : Yokouchi's election platform for the 2007 gubernatorial election (Japanese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary for Shōmei Yokouchi
2. ↑ 民主 、 横 内 氏 に 「相乗 り」 決定 . (No longer available online.) In: asahi.com . December 7, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved December 10, 2010 (Japanese).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )