Akashian presidential election, 2020
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| Turnout | 88,2% (first round) 89,6% (second round) | |||||||||||||||
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 Most voted candidate by province (second round) | ||||||||||||||||
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A presidential election was held in Akashi on 27 June and 4 July 2020.
Daunted by his very narrow victories, incumbent Kyōichi Hirayama chose to step down after two terms. With an open race, the competition included a unified centre-right candidate, two left candidates from the Socialist Party and Communist Party, a Future Party candidate, and an independent.
Very early on, it was the Moderate People's Party's Masako Owada who was heavily favoured to win. Masako's cosmopolitan background, fluency in multiple languages, diplomatic career, and elegant image proved greatly attractive to voters, and advantages that the other candidates could not effectively counter.
In the first round, Masako won a plurality of 41%, and established a convincing lead over the second-placed candidate, the SP's Satoru Katayama. This set the stage for Masako's landslide victory in the second round, where she won 63,6% of the vote and majorities in all provinces — a feat previously achieved by Emi Hanamura and Kōsaku Ayuzawa. Masako even won convincingly in Kobi, where Satoru was seen as such an uninspiring candidate that even the CP's candidate, Bjarka, declared she would vote for Masako in the second round.
Result
| Presidential election, 27 June and 4 July 2020 | ||||||
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| Candidate | Party | 1st round | 2nd round | |||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Masako Owada | Moderate People's Party | 3.374.897 | 41,0% | 5.318.305 | 63,6% | |
| Satoru Katayama | Socialist Party | 2.000.244 | 24,3% | 3.043.810 | 36,4% | |
| Tetsu Sasori | Future Party | 1.152.404 | 14,0% | |||
| Bjarka | Communist Party | 1.028.932 | 12,5% | |||
| Koto Kirishima | Independent | 674.979 | 8,2% | |||
| Total | 8.231.456 | 100% | 8.362.114 | 100% | ||
| Registered voters and turnout | 9.332.717 | 88,2% | 89,6% | |||