KOCHI-Daijiro Hashimoto, the incumbent Kochi governor who stepped down last month due to a political-funds scandal, was re-elected Sunday.

Hashimoto, 57, ran as an independent and won his fifth term with 226,428 votes, against Tetsuto Matsuo, who came second with 192,745 votes, and Masakazu Yamanaka, who came third with 1,765 votes. Voter turnout was 64.56 percent.

Matsuo, 57, is a former Kochi city mayor who was independent but supported by the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Social Democratic Party.

Yamanaka, 51, also ran as an independent.

A drop-off in votes for Hashimoto compared to the November 2003 election was attributed to a recently revealed scandal involving Hashimoto's campaign manager. He allegedly received 100 million yen in cash from a construction company after Hashimoto won the gubernatorial election for the first time in 1991.

Hashimoto, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, ran without any official political party support, but some grass-root civic movements rallied around him as well as some members of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) and the Japanese Communist Party.(IHT/Asahi: November 30,2004)