Incumbent Kyoto Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa, an independent supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and major opposition parties, was re-elected Sunday to a second four-year term after defeating the Japanese Communist Party-backed candidate he defeated in the previous election.
With the incumbent's performance a key issue in the two-horse race, Kadokawa, 61, emphasized the fiscal and administrative reforms he made to the municipal government and efforts to closely cooperate with the governor.
His opponent, 57-year-old lawyer Kazuo Nakamura, called for eliminating nuclear power plants and opposing the consumption tax hike being pushed by the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
Kadokawa received 221,765 votes to Nakamura's 189,971.
The election drew a voter turnout of 36.77 percent, down 1.05 points from the previous election in 2008, when Kadokawa beat Nakamura by a narrower margin.