2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election

The 2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on 5 July 2020 to elect the Governor of Tokyo. In a result viewed as an endorsement of her handling of Tokyo's response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[2] incumbent Yuriko Koike was re-elected by a wide margin,[2] increasing her share of the vote to 59.7%.[3]

2020 Tokyo gubernatorial election

5 July 2020
Turnout	6,132,679 (55%)
Candidate Yuriko Koike Kenji Utsunomiya Tarō Yamamoto Party Independent Independent Reiwa Shinsengumi Popular vote 3,661,371 844,151 657,277 Percentage 59.7% 13.76% 10.72% Supported by Tomin First[1] CDP, DPFP, JCP, SDP DPFP   Candidate Taisuke Ono Makoto Sakurai Takashi Tachibana Party Independent Japan First Horiemon New Popular vote 612,530 178,784 43,912 Percentage 9.99% 2.92% 0.72% Supported by Ishin — N-Koku
Governor before election Yuriko Koike Independent Elected Governor Yuriko Koike Independent

Candidates

A total of 22 candidates registered candidacies for the election.[3]

Incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike announced her campaign for re-election on 12 June 2020.[4] Similar to her first campaign for Governor, Koike ran as an independent and did not receive the endorsement of any party, aside from the support of the regional Tomin First party which she founded in 2017. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party considered endorsing Koike in the 2020 election, unlike in the 2016 gubernatorial election in which the party endorsed a separate candidate, however the party ultimately chose not to endorse any candidate, instead encouraging members to vote freely.[5][6] Koike was widely expected to win a second term, based on opinion polling conducted in the weeks prior the election. [7]

Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer and former chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, announced his candidacy on 28 May 2020. Utsunomiya was considered the main opposition to Koike, having received endorsements from a coalition of opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party. This was Utsunomiya's third campaign for Governor of Tokyo, having also ran in the 2012 and 2014 elections. [8]

Other notable candidates included Tarō Yamamoto, a former actor who founded the anti-establishment and anti-nuclear energy party Reiwa Shinsengumi in 2019, Taisuke Ono, the former Vice Governor of Kumamoto, whose candidacy received the endorsement of Nippon Ishin no Kai, Makoto Sakurai, a far-right activist and the founder and leader of the Japan First Party, and Takashi Tachibana, the head of the anti-NHK N-Koku and a former member of the House of Councillors.[9]

Tokyo Review described the election as a "circus"[10] viewed by many candidates as marketing opportunity:

For less than $30,000, each candidate gets several minutes to broadcast whatever they want on NHK, an official statement delivered to every single household in Tokyo, and a prime outdoor location on every street in the city for their posters for two weeks.

Results

Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2020[11] [12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent (Supported by Tomin First)	Yuriko Koike (incumbent)	3,661,371	59.7%	15.21%
	Independent (Supported by Constitutional Democratic, Democrats for the People, Communist, Social Democratic)	Kenji Utsunomiya	844,151	13.76%	N/A
	Reiwa Shinsengumi (Supported by Democrats for the People)	Tarō Yamamoto	657,277	10.72%	N/A
	Independent (Supported by Ishin)	Taisuke Ono	612,530	9.99%	N/A
	Japan First	Makoto Sakurai	178,784	2.92%	1.23%
	Horiemon New Party (Supported by The Party to Protect the People from NHK)	Takashi Tachibana	43,912	0.72%	0.20%
	Happiness Realization	Hiroko Nanami	22,003	0.36%	0.08%
	Independent	Teruki Gotō	21,997	0.36%	0.25%
	Independent	Shion Sawa	20,738	0.34%	N/A
	Independent	Makoto Nishimoto	11,887	0.19%	N/A
	Smile	Hiroshi Komiyama	10,935	0.18%	0.60%
	People's Sovereignty Party	Masayuki Hiratsuka	8,997	0.15%	N/A
	Horiemon New Party (Supported by The Party to Protect the People from NHK)	Osamu Hattori	5,453	0.09%	N/A
	Horiemon New Party (Supported by The Party to Protect the People from NHK)	Kenichirō Saitō	5,114	0.08%	N/A
	Independent	Hiroshi Ichikawa	4,760	0.08%	N/A
	Independent	Hisao Naitō	4,145	0.07%	N/A
	Independent	Yasuhiro Sekiguchi	4,097	0.07%	0.05%
	Independent	Hideyuki Takemoto	3,997	0.07%	N/A
	Independent	Hitoshi Ishi	3,356	0.05%	N/A
	Independent	Yasuhiro Nagasawa	2,955	0.05%	N/A
	Independent	Seiichi Oshikoshi	2,708	0.04%	N/A
	Independent	Kazue Ushio	1,510	0.02%	N/A
Turnout			6,132,679	55%	4.73% [13]

References

1. https://tomin1st.jp/news/archives/1515/
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/world/asia/tokyo-governor-election.html
3. https://www.asahi.com/senkyo/tochijisen/2020/kaihyo/
4. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/06/12/national/politics-diplomacy/yuriko-koike-re-election/
5. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/25/national/ldp-mulls-support-yuriko-koikes-re-election-tokyo-governor/#.XwKw15Mza3I
6. https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Koike-s-campaign-for-Tokyo-governor-corrodes-Japanese-party-politics
7. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/06/29/national/politics-diplomacy/yuriko-koike-polls-tokyo-gubernatorial-election/
8. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/06/a62339ce37ca-profiles-candidates-of-the-tokyo-governor-election.html
9. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/06/a62339ce37ca-profiles-candidates-of-the-tokyo-governor-election.html
10. https://www.tokyoreview.net/2020/07/tokyos-2020-election-devolves-into-circus/
11. https://www.asahi.com/senkyo/tochijisen/2020/kaihyo/
12. https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/election/local/tochijisen2020/results/kouho17/
13. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200705/p2g/00m/0na/077000c