Incumbent re-elected in Kagoshima gubernatorial race

KAGOSHIMA--Incumbent Governor Yuichiro Ito gathered broad support from both the ruling and opposition camps and was re-elected Sunday for a second term.

Ito, 60, defeated Katsuko Iwaizako, 65, an independent former prefectural assembly member backed by the Japanese Communist Party.

About 1.38 million voters cast ballots in the election for a turnout rate of 38.99 percent, the second lowest for a Kagoshima gubernatorial race, prefectural officials said.

During the campaign, Ito stressed his first-term achievements in restructuring the southern Kyushu prefecture's finances.

He ran as an independent with support from prefectural assembly groups of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito, Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) and the Social Democratic Party.

Ito sought endorsement from the Kagoshima branch of Rengo, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation. But the organization would only express its support for Ito, citing his decision to cut prefectural workers' salaries by 6 percent starting this fiscal year.

Iwaizako, the prefecture's first female candidate for governor, tried to undermine Ito's strong standing by stressing the need for increased spending on welfare.(IHT/Asahi: July 14,2008)