After the new crown epidemic and the Olympics are over, Yuriko Koike will serve as the governor of Tokyo for the third time

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is certain to win a third consecutive term in Sunday’s gubernatorial election, according to exit polls.

The 71-year-old, the first female governor of Japan’s most populous city, will serve for another four years.

Her victory will come as a relief to struggling Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Liberal Democratic Party, which backed the 71-year-old to win a third term.

She was elected in 2016 and won a second term in 2020.

Japan’s declining fertility rate has become a major issue in the campaign, with the winning candidate now having to work to improve Tokyo’s alarmingly low birth rate. The average number of children born to women between the ages of 15 and 49 is 0.99, the lowest in the country.

Her appointment makes her one of the most powerful women in Japanese politics – Tokyo accounts for about 11% of the population and nearly 20% of the country’s GDP.

She is also responsible for the city’s budget – which has climbed to a staggering 16.55 trillion yen ($100 billion; £80 billion) this financial year.

According to Reuters, 71-year-old Yuriko Koike received more than 40% of the vote.

Unexpectedly, Shinji Ishimaru, the 41-year-old former mayor of Hiroshima Prefecture, came in second place, a position long thought to be Renho Saito’s guarantee.

Ms Renfang, 56, came third with the support of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ).

Mr. Ishimaru’s success is attributed to his ability to mobilize young voters through his massive online following. His campaign also focused on promoting economic and industrial development in Tokyo.

Koike began her career as a journalist and TV news anchor before entering politics in the early 1990s.

But it wasn’t until 2016, when she was elected governor of Tokyo for the first time, that she really became famous. She was not an official candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party, but still won easily, receiving more than 2.9 million votes, becoming the first female candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party.

“I will lead Tokyo politics like never before and create a Tokyo you have never seen before,” Yuriko Koike promised supporters on election night.

She officially left the Liberal Democrats in 2017 to form her own party, although she retained the support of many within the party – who are backing her in the 2024 campaign.

Koike has vowed to focus on local issues during her term, including tackling overcrowding on public transport and an overworked culture in cities. But it is global issues that have dominated her tenure.

The emergence of Covid-19 forced Tokyo to postpone the Summer Olympics, originally scheduled for 2020. further praise in the shadow of coronavirus.

Ms. Koike, Yet there was no escape from scandal. Allegations that she never graduated from Cairo University – first reported during her first term – have never completely gone away. Despite her repeated denials and statements confirming her graduation from college, reports that she falsified graduation documents persisted during her third term as governor.

Opponents also criticized her for failing to fulfill her commitments in Tokyo. Trains remain overcrowded and a culture of overtime remains a problem, they said.

Of the 56 candidates voters must choose from, Saito Renhao is expected to be Koike’s main opponent.

The former senator has the support of the main opposition parties the Cadets, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.

Ms Lunhuo left the China Democracy Party before the official campaign began on June 20.

In 2016, she became the first female leader of a center-left group, but resigned a year later due to poor election results in Tokyo prefectures.

Japanese media cast the race as a proxy war between political parties across the country, as conservative incumbents are challenged by left-leaning opposition politicians.

The gubernatorial election also took place in an atmosphere of widespread political distrust. Critics say this is partly related to Japan’s economic difficulties, the end of its long history of deflation and the weakening yen.