Former Japanese defence minister Yuriko Koike has been elected as the Japanese capital’s first woman governor, exit polls project.
Although, the voters in the Japanese capital elected their first woman governor on Sunday, Yuriko Koike celebrate with supporters after exit polls predicted her election victory, after two predecessors stepped down over scandals that clouded the cities. Preparations to host the 2020 summer Olympic Games.
The Public broadcaster NHK and other media forecast said, Ms Yuriko Koike as the winner will set to face some of the key challenges that will be curbing the financial problems plaguing Tokyo’s preparations to host the Olympic Games.
Yuriko Koike, Japan’s first female defence minister, beat former bureaucrat and fellow member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s party Hiroya Masuda, as well as liberal journalist Shuntaro Torigoe, according to an exit poll by public broadcaster NHK.
“While feeling the weight of this result, Ms Yuriko Koike said, her administration will thoroughly push the metropolitan government forward as the new governor.” I will lead Tokyo politics in an unprecedented manner, a Tokyo you have never seen,” Ms Koike, 64, told cheering supporters.
After the resignations of the city’s two previous governors, Koike will be responsible for saving Tokyo’s reputation as host for the games.
Since then Tokyo’s preparations for the 2020 Summer Olympics have been hit by scandals, overspending, administrative fumbles and construction delays.
One of Ms Yuriko Koike first duties will be to travel to Rio at the end of the 2016 Olympic in August to accept the Olympic flag as the next host.
