Iwate Gov. Takuya Tasso, 59, won a fifth four-year term in Sunday’s gubernatorial election in the northeastern prefecture.
Independent candidate Tasso, who gained cooperation from four opposition parties in national politics, defeated his only rival, Junko Chiba, 45, who was also unaffiliated but had support from the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.
The four parties are the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party for the People and the Social Democratic Party.
Tasso, a former member of the House of Representatives, won more than 330,000 votes, against over 230,000 votes earned by Chiba, a former local television reporter who used to sit on the Iwate Prefectural Assembly.
Voter turnout rose to 56.63% from the record low of 53.46% logged in the previous election four years ago.
In his election campaign, Tasso highlighted his achievements in the past four terms, including reconstruction of the prefecture, which was hit hard by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Chiba could not defeat him although she promised to implement prefectural government reform and boasted of her connections with the central government. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki joined her during her campaign.