Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has declared victory after exit polls have projected her winning a third consecutive term as the leader of Japan’s capital city, securing her position for the next four years.
Koike, 71, received more than 2.9 million votes in Sunday’s election, equivalent to 42.8 per cent of the votes.
She beat her top two opponents, Shinji Ishimaru and Renho Saito, by a wide margin.
Back in 2016, Koike became Tokyo’s first female governor, and went on to win her second term in 2020. She guided Tokyo through the Covid-19 pandemic, the delayed summer Olympics in 2021 and navigated through controversies regarding her university credentials and infrastructure projects.
Her third term victory will be seen as a relief for the struggling Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Liberal Democratic Party, as they had backed her as an independent candidate.
As she declared victory, Koike pointed to the issues she’d be focused on, including “how to proceed with digital transformation as industries have changed significantly” and “the environment for women’s empowerment”.
Japan is well-known for its male-dominated politics. Nationwide, women comprise just 2 per cent of the political leaders of more than 1,700 municipalities in Japan, according to data from 2022.
The culture surrounding women’s leadership in the country has made headlines as well, such as when Japan’s Olympic Committee brought five women into a board-meeting full of men and told the women to “look, don’t speak”.
As governor of Japan’s influential capital city, Koike will also need to contend with Tokyo’s low birth rate, which was a major campaign issue. It’s the lowest birth rate nationwide, at 0.99. This means women aged between 15 and 49 are having, on average, less than one child.
Koike has pledged to address the issues by expanding support for parenting and promising subsidised epidurals.
“After having their first child, I hear people say they don’t want to experience that pain again,” Koike said during the election campaign, according to local media.
“I want people to see childbirth and raising children as a happiness, not a risk.”
Following the exit polls projecting her victory, Koike thanked her supporters saying: “I believe the voters gave me a mandate for my accomplishment in the past eight years.”
“I am fully aware of my heavy responsibility,” she said. “I will tackle my third term with all my body and soul”.