The opposition-backed former mayor of Hamamatsu is set to win Sunday's Shizuoka gubernatorial election, Kyodo News projections and early returns showed.
Yasutomo Suzuki is projected to beat Shinichi Omura, who was endorsed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and other candidates, boosting hopes that Japan's stalled high-speed maglev train project may be revived.
Suzuki, like his main rival, is a proponent of the maglev project, the construction of which has been delayed amid long-running environmental concerns raised by former Gov. Heita Kawakatsu.
Suzuki's win also deals a heavy blow to Kishida, as the approval ratings for his Cabinet have remained at their lowest levels since its launch in October 2021 amid a political funds scandal engulfing the LDP.
The gubernatorial election was called after Kawakatsu stepped down after coming under fire over his belittling comments in April about farmers and vegetable sellers.
Kawakatsu, who was in his fourth four-year term after taking office in 2009, is an outspoken critic of Central Japan Railway Co.'s Linear Chuo Shinkansen.
The operator, also known as JR Central, has said the line could not only bring economic benefits to the area but also serve as a vital backup in the event of a powerful earthquake of tsunami that could affect rail lines closer to the coast.
The line, connecting Tokyo, Nagoya, and eventually Osaka, is planned to pass through a short section of northern Shizuoka, with trains traveling up to 500 kilometers per hour. But there are no plans for the trains to stop within the prefecture.
The maglev train project was intended to roll out in two phases, with the Nagoya leg set for 2027 and the Osaka extension in 2037.
But JR Central said in March that it had given up on the 2027 target amid long-running opposition from Shizuoka Prefecture.
Suzuki, endorsed by the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Democratic Party for the People, has pledged to make progress on the rail link.
His LDP-backed rival, Omura, who served as a Shizuoka deputy governor, was also a proponent of the project, having said he intends to show results within a year from talks with the central government and JR central to resolve the maglev issue.
