The LDP wanted to make sure Tokyo elected a governor who could see it through the Olympics, analysts said. Tokyo has elected its first woman governor, choosing Yuriko Koike, an English-speaking former defense minister who once compared herself to Hillary Clinton, to lead the Japanese capital into the next Olympic Games. Although turnout was low at about 27 percent, voters overwhelmingly backed Koike, a onetime television news anchor who not only speaks English but also Arabic, which she learned as a student in Egypt. The result is something of an affront to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose ruling Liberal Democratic Party backed another candidate, but it installs some stability in Tokyo after a string of scandals and missteps. Voicing admiration for both Hillary Clinton and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Koike then ran — unsuccessfully — for leader of the LDP in 2008.

Source: Washington Post July 31, 2016 15:56 UTC