Yuko Sato (politician)

Yuko Sato (佐藤夕子, Satō Yūko) is a Japanese politician and member of the Genzei Nippon party. She previously served one term in the House of Representatives of Japan's national Diet and currently serves on the Nagoya city council in Aichi Prefecture.

Yuko Sato
佐藤夕子
Member of the Aichi Prefectural Assembly
In office
2007 – 21 July 2009
House of Representatives for the Aichi 1st district
In office
2009 – 16 December 2012
Member of the Nagoya City Council
Assumed office
April 2015
Personal details
Born (1963-01-06) January 6, 1963
Nagoya, Aichi
Political partyGenzei Nippon

Early life and career

Sato was born in Nagoya city, Aichi Prefecture. In 1983 she graduated from the Junior College of Kinjo Gakuin University and became a kindergarten teacher. In September 2006 she became a secretary to Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) politician Takashi Kawamura, who represented Aichi 1st district in the House of Representatives of Japan's national Diet.

Political career

Sato contested the Nagoya City Higashi district of the Aichi Prefectural Assembly as a DPJ candidate in the April 2007 general election and claimed 58% of the vote.[1] In April 2009 resigned from the House of Representatives to contest the Nagoya mayoral election. Sato subsequently resigned from the Prefectural Assembly in July 2009 in order to contest Kawamura's seat as the DPJ candidate at the August 2009 general election. Sato won 54.4% of the vote in an election that brought the DPJ into power for the first time in its existence.[2]

Sato lodged resignation papers with DPJ officials in March 2011 in order to allow her to campaign on behalf of Genzei Nippon ("Tax Reduction Japan"),[3] a party formed by Kawamura in April 2010.[4] The DPJ did not immediately accept her resignation and instead considered expelling her from the party, but eventually granted her request to leave in May 2011.[3] This made her the new party's first member in the national Diet.

The national branch of Genzei Nippon, including Sato, merged with the Tomorrow Party of Japan in November 2012. Sato contested the December 2012 general election as a Tomorrow Party candidate and received 31% of the vote, but lost to Liberal Democratic Party candidate Hiromichi Kumada, who received 40% of the vote.[5] The Tomorrow Party received only 7% of the vote in the Tokai proportional representation block, which meant they only received 1 of the 21 seats available. Fellow Tomorrow Party candidate Katsumasa Suzuki lost the Aichi 15th district by a smaller margin than Sato lost her district, which meant that Suzuki claimed the sole PR block seat and Sato lost her place in the Diet.[6]

Sato returned to politics at the April 2015 unified local elections, winning one of the two seats in the Higashi district of the Nagoya city council and receiving 34.5% of the vote.[7]

References
  1. "平成１９年４月８日執行　愛知県議会議員一般選挙　候補者別得票数" [8 April 2007 Aichi Prefectural Assembly General Election - Number of votes by candidate] (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  2. "平成２１年８月３０日執行　衆議院議員総選挙（小選挙区）　候補者得票数一覧" [30 August 2009 House of Representatives Election (single-member districts) - Number of votes by candidate] (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  3. "民主、佐藤夕子氏の離党届受理　減税日本初の国会議員に" [DPJ accepts Yuko Sato's defection, Genzei Nippon's first national Diet member] (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun]]. 13 May 2011. Archived from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  4. "新政治団体「減税日本」設立＝市議会解散へ布石−河村名古屋市長" [New political group "Genzei Nippon" established - Nagoya mayor Kawamura preparing for city council election] (in Japanese). 26 April 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  5. "平成２４年１２月１６日執行　衆議院議員総選挙（小選挙区）　候補者得票数一覧" [16 December 2012 House of Representatives Election (single-member districts) - Number of votes by candidate] (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  6. "東海　【比例代表】 開票結果 総選挙2012 衆院選 選挙" [Tokai (PR block) results, General election 2012]. Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  7. "開票結果-政令市議選・愛知県【統一地方選2015】" [Results - Designated city councils:Aichi Prefecture (Unified local elections 2015)] (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
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