OSAKA -- Scandal-tainted Kiyomi Tsujimoto failed Sunday in her bid to return to the Diet, finishing fourth in the race for three seats in the Osaka electoral district.
"I began this campaign with an apology to the voters for the scandal involving my secretaries' salary, and I end it with an apology to voters," she told her supporters, who began gathering at her Osaka office early in the evening to await the results of what they knew was a close race.
When Motoyuki Odachi of the Democratic Party of Japan, who late last week was predicted by several local media polls to finish fourth, won the first seat at just after 9 p.m., a collective groan went up from the roughly two dozen Tsujimoto supporters.