Japanese Premier Gets Boost at Polls
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TOKYO — A candidate backed by Japan’s ruling coalition won an important local election Sunday, giving a badly needed boost to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi’s government.
Fusae Ota’s win makes her Japan’s first female governor, succeeding Isamu Yokoyama, who resigned in December as governor of Osaka amid charges of sexual harassment.
The result, along with a certain win for Obuchi’s candidate for mayor of Kyoto, was a show of support for Obuchi and his two ruling coalition partners in their drive to end Japan’s recession, analysts said.
The votes were seen as a test of Obuchi’s Liberal Democratic Party and his coalition partners, which are feuding with the opposition over a possible early general election.
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