A former mayor of Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, who had stepped down after being found guilty of bribery was re-elected Sunday, though he could be forced to leave office again depending on how the Supreme Court rules on his conviction appeal.
Hiroto Fujii, 32, resigned as mayor last month after the Nagoya High Court in November overturned a lower court acquittal and found that he had received ¥300,000 in bribes in 2013 while he was a member of the Minokamo Municipal Assembly.
Fujii ran for mayor again in hopes of securing a popular mandate to serve out the remainder of his term while fighting the bribery conviction at the same time.