Election Day

 

Today is election day in Shizuoka Prefecture for the new governor, after the previous governor resigned (was forced to resign?). You can check out that story on this post.  

The official campaign kicked off on May 9th, with the election day today, May 26th. The picture boards are put up all over the election area two weeks before every election. The other election thing that seems odd to me is, starting two weeks before the election, candidates and their supporters drive around in vans with loud speakers shouting out the candidates' names.

Six people filed as candidates: Shinichi Omura, 60, former deputy governor of Shizuoka who is backed by the Liberal Democratic Party; Yasutomo Suzuki, 66, a former mayor of Hamamatsu City supported by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People; Daisuke Mori, 55, prefectural chairman of the Japanese Communist Party, former company employee Masafumi Yokoyama, 56; home business owner Takeshi Murakami, 73; and company president Satomi Hamanaka, 62.  

Two of the six candidates are said to be locked in a neck and neck battle, according to a telephone survey conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun. These two are former Hamamatsu Mayor Yasutomo Suzuki, 66, and former Deputy Governor Shinichi Omura, 60. 

May the best candidate win!