Advocate of halting atomic reactors wins Kagoshima governor race

[yuiyoshida]

KAGOSHIMA (Kyodo) -- Satoshi Mitazono, who has pledged to halt nuclear reactors operating in the prefecture, won the Kagoshima gubernatorial election Sunday, beating incumbent Yuichiro Ito, who agreed to the restart of a nuclear plant in the southwestern prefecture.

The 58-year-old Mitazono, a former TV Asahi Corp. commentator, was backed by the main opposition Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party and some conservatives who typically support the ruling Liberal Democratic Party but were opposed to the incumbent.

Ito, 68, was seeking a fourth four-year term with the support of the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito. He admitted defeat.

The fate of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai nuclear power plant in the prefecture was one of the contentious issues during the election campaign.

The Sendai plant's Nos. 1 and 2 units are the only reactors operating in Japan after the government imposed tougher safety rules following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160710/p2g/00m/0fp/047000c