NAGOYA -- Nagoya Mayor Takehisa Matsubara defeated two independent candidates in the mayoral race Sunday to win his second term in office.

Matsubara was backed by virtually all the major parties, including the three ruling coalition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- as well as the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. He also had the support of the Aichi Prefecture chapter of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo).

The voter turnout was 31.41 percent, down 2.87 percentage points from the previous election, the city hall's election committee said. The result was the second-lowest after only 26.26 percent of the people voted in 1981.

The two other contenders, both first-time candidates, were former company executive Tei Uno, 67, who was backed by the Japanese Communist Party, and 55-year-old Tsuyoshi Makino, a lecturer at a local prep school.

Matsubara's campaign platform was based on his achievements as mayor during the past four years, such as reducing the amount of garbage generated in Nagoya, Japan's fourth-largest city with a population of over 2 million.

Uno and Makino were critical of the Matsubara municipal government, in which all parties except the JCP are represented in the ruling bloc. The two opposition candidates also called for a review of public works projects and of the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture, but they were unable to gather wide support.