Ibaraki Gov. Masaru Hashimoto has won his sixth four-year term, defeating his sole challenger, endorsed by the Japanese Communist Party, by a landslide.
Hashimoto 67, beat Shigehiro Tanaka, 66, a professor emeritus at Ibaraki University, in the gubernatorial election Sunday, becoming the most re-elected governor in the nation. Both ran as independents.
Hashimoto garnered 489,832 votes to Tanaka's 257,625, the prefectural election management committee said. Voter turnout was 31.74 percent, the third-lowest in history, suggesting a declining interest in the Hashimoto government.