An unconventional governor Sunday was re-elected Sunday in voting seen as an indication that Japanese remain critical of old-style politics and pork-barrel construction projects.
Yasuo Tanaka was returned to office in a special election to fill the governorship of Nagano prefecture. He was ousted from the position in July after halting two huge dam projects.
Early returns Sunday night showed him with a comfortable lead over five opponents.
At a celebration at a ski facility in the village of Asahi, Tanaka said he considered the election was a mandate “to carry out prefectural reform with no secrets, with firm resolve and ability to act.”
Tanaka, who was elected in October 2000, was seen as part of the reform movement that brought Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to power in 2001. Both are young, reform-minded politicians who ran against the old guard and special interests, chief among them is the construction industry that dominates public spending.
But where Koizumi has compromised with vested powers and has made little headway on being about changes, Tanaka took on contractors and their close ally–the legislature. The assembly dismissed him July 5 in a no-confidence vote, but he promptly ran again.
Political analysts said Tanaka’s re-election was as much a referendum on his style as on the construction projects. His brash populism and odd antics have made him the focus of an intense love-him-or-hate-him division in Nagano prefecture, site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Tanaka, 46, who has written prize-winning novels, became governor after he earned recognition as a keen critic and community activist. But he also keeps a collection of stuffed animals, boasts of his sexual conquests in a racy magazine column and has moved to a glass office in a government building to work in full view of the public.
Critics dismiss the actions as showmanship, but Tanaka’s re-election indicates voters in Nagano prefer him over his more traditional opponents.
“There is an expectation that he will change something,” said Yasunori Sone, a professor of politics at Keio University in Tokyo.
The election results are an imperfect referendum on the public’s appetite for reform that put Koizumi in power, analysts said. The prime minister’s once-soaring popularity has dropped sharply as he has been unable to make the kinds of changes he had promised in the financial and political systems. Among other differences, the candidates in Nagano did not run with the backing of the major political parties, analysts said.