Incumbent Gunma Gov. Osawa to be reelected+

MAEBASHI, Japan, July 3 Kyodo -
Incumbent Gunma Gov. Masaaki Osawa was reelected in the prefecture's gubernatorial race Sunday, defeating three challengers, according to early returns.
Declaring victory, the 65-year-old Osawa said at his campaign office in Maebashi, ''Various industries in Gunma are now in a severe state in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. I will take the initiative in achieving economic recovery as soon as possible.''
While Osawa was backed by three opposition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, the New Komeito party and Your Party, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, meanwhile, refrained from fielding a candidate, making it a lackluster campaign without major points of dispute.
The three other candidates were Arata Goto, 50, a former member of the Gunma prefectural assembly, Keiji Kosuge, 60, of the Japanese Communist Party, and Atsushi Ebine, 64, an independent.
During the campaign, Osawa stressed his achievements in his first four-year term, including introduction of free medical care for children, and argued that the prefectural government will overcome the economic slump in cooperation with municipal governments in the wake of the March disaster.
==Kyodo
2011-07-03 20:29:23