CHIBA (Kyodo) The upcoming Chiba gubernatorial election will be drawing an unusual amount of attention as an indicator of whether the public still wants the Democratic Party of Japan to unseat the Liberal Democratic Party in the next national election in spite of the fundraising scandal that has hit DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa.
Five people are running in the March 29 election, including Kensaku Morita and Masumi Shiraishi, who are both supported by local assembly members in the LDP, and Taira Yoshida, who obtained an official DPJ endorsement.
It will be the first voter verdict on the DPJ since Ozawa's chief secretary, Takanori Okubo, was arrested March 3 on suspicion of accepting illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co.