A 63-year-old former Miyazaki Prefectural Assembly member won the mayoral election in Kushima unopposed Sunday after his predecessor was removed from office because one of his supporters was convicted of buying votes.
Shigenori Suzuki, who entered the prefectural assembly in 1990 after a stint on the Kushima Municipal Assembly, pledged to shake up what he called an outdated city administrative system run by cliques.
The election was held after Mayor Osamitsu Nobe, 59, became the first municipal chief to be ousted under an election law that penalizes elected officials for the wrongdoing of their associates.
It was the first time Kushima's mayoral race was run without a vote since the city was founded in 1954.
Nobe meanwhile has registered his candidacy for a by-election July 28 to fill the prefectural assembly seat vacated by Suzuki, since the law does not bar him from running in other elections.
He faces two rivals for the post.
Nobe won the mayoral race in November 2000, but one of his senior supporters was sentenced to a suspended two-year prison term last September for vote-buying, leading prosecutors to file suit with the Fukuoka High Court seeking to deprive Nobe of his post and prevent him from running in a Kushima mayoral race for five years.
The high court approved the prosecutors' demand, but Nobe appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, saying the stipulation in the Public Offices Election Law violates the Constitution's guarantee of the right to run for office.
The top court, however, rejected his claim, saying neither the invalidation of the electoral result nor restrictions on his candidacy violates the Constitution.