Genta Koja, backed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, has won the Okinawa gubernatorial election with 59 percent of the vote.
The former deputy mayor of Naha defeated two-term incumbent Denny Tamaki, a prominent opponent of plans to relocate a major US military base within Okinawa. Koja, 42, will become the prefecture’s youngest governor since Okinawa was returned to Japanese administration in 1972.
The result could alter long-running legal and political resistance to expanded military infrastructure in Okinawa at a time when Japan is increasing defence spending and sharpening its security posture in East Asia.
Source: Al Jazeera
