IR-backing Osaka governor re-elected, share of vote up

Apr 10, 2023 Newsdesk Japan, Latest News, Top of the deck  

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Hirofumi Yoshimura, the head of the Osaka Innovation party, was re-elected on Sunday as governor of Osaka prefecture, and with a 9.3 percentage-point increase in his share of the vote compared to the April 2019 election. Following his re-election, he gave comment on the Japanese metropolis’ tilt at having an integrated resort (IR) with casino.

“We have squarely argued the need and the policy to go ahead with an IR in Osaka always and during the election campaign,” stated Mr Yoshimura, as cited by local media, according to GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

He further observed: “We understand that our IR policy has got the public consent in Osaka to a certain extent.”

Some other political groupings in Osaka had made the IR policy an electoral issue. Osaka (pictured) plans to have United States-based MGM Resorts International and Japanese company Orix Corp as its private-sector partners for the development of the scheme.

The re-elected governor reaffirmed the aim of “targeting to open an IR in 2029″.

Mr Yoshimura noted, referring to a project-assessment announcement still in the hands of the national authorities, and which had been flagged as delayed until after the local elections: “Now, we want the government to show the result of the IR examination as soon as possible.”

Mr Yoshimura was returned with 2,439,444 votes, 73.7 percent of the vote, compared to April 2019, when he garnered 2,266,103 votes, 64.4 percent of the total.

In the latest elections for Osaka prefecture assembly, Osaka Innovation got 55 seats out of the total 88 seats. In April 2019, it had won 51 out of total 88 seats, according to information collated by GGRAsia’s Japan correspondent.

In Sunday’s poll, Hideyuki Yokoyama – also of Osaka Innovation – was elected as Osaka mayor with 655,802 votes, 64.6 percent of the vote.

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