The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito won a local victory Sunday night in a gubernatorial poll in Kochi Prefecture, as voters chose to ignore national political scandals engulfing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and support the hand-picked successor of the current governor over a candidate backed by all the major opposition parties.
Seiji Hamada, 56, a former Osaka vice governor and internal affairs ministry bureaucrat strongly supported by the LDP and Komeito, defeated Kenji Matsumoto, 35, a member of the Kochi chapter of the Japanese Communist Party who was supported by all the major opposition parties.
The voter turnout rate was 47.67 percent, the lowest since 2007. Hamada beat Matsumoto by over 62,000 votes.