2003 Tokyo gubernatorial election

2003 Tokyo gubernatorial election
← 1999 April 13, 2003 2007 →
Turnout44.94% Decrease 12.93 pp
 
Shintarō Ishihara 2003.jpg
Keiko Higuchi portrait(2010).jpg
Candidate Shintarō Ishihara Keiko Higuchi
Party Independent Independent
Popular vote 3,087,190 817,146
Percentage 70.2% 18.6%
Governor before election

Shintarō Ishihara
Independent

Elected Governor

Shintarō Ishihara
Independent

The 2003 Tokyo Gubernatorial elections were held on 13 April 2003. Incumbent governor Shintaro Ishihara was re-elected with the support of the Liberal Democratic Party, which was riding a nationwide wave of popularity under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.[1] Opposition parties had billed the election as a referendum regarding Japanese support for the Iraq War. Although endorsed by the LDP, Ishihara's landslide victory was partly owed to the popularity of policies he enacted in opposition to the national government, such as stricter pollution controls.[2]

  1. ^ "Tokyo governor re-elected". BBC. 14 April 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  2. ^ "Tokyo Governor Easily Wins Re-Election". Edwardsville Intelligencer. 13 April 2003. Retrieved 8 January 2014.