Akashian presidential election, 1970
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| Turnout | 89,0% | |||||||||||||||
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 Most voted candidate by province | ||||||||||||||||
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A presidential election was held in Akashi on 27 June 1970.
This election was part of the long resolution to the Summer of Freedom, which had forced Yurika Ehara to depart as Prime Minister, although she stayed on as President.
Unusually, this was the only presidential election with only two candidates. Leading Zenkyōtō spokesperson Orime Sasaki announced her candidacy under a "Youth Revolution" banner. In response, the left-wing parties stood down in order to give her a clear run against Yurikara, while the centre-right parties stood down to avoid vote splitting, implicitly supporting Yurikara.
The Akashi Renewal Party couldn't field a candidate as its leader Ayako Sōnō was imprisoned for disturbing the peace, while the Conservative National Party refused to field a candidate in protest against "the tyranny of the protesters".
Yurikara won re-election, but Orime performed much better than expected, winning 45% of the vote — the best opposition performance so far — and winning majorities in 3 provinces — overwhelmingly in Kobi and Shimachi, and narrowly in Matō. Generally, Orime won the largest cities, while the rural areas and smaller cities went for Yurikara.
The result worried Yurikara's advisor Kozue Hidaka, especially Orime's narrow majority in Matō. She took this as a sign that enough voters were sufficiently fed up with Yurikara that she would've lost against another candidate.
Result
| Presidential election, 27 June 1970 | ||||
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| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
| Yurika Ehara | National Union | 2.639.572 | 55,0% | |
| Orime Sasaki | Youth Revolution | 2.159.650 | 45,0% | |
| Total | 4.799.221 | 100% | ||
| Registered voters and turnout | 5.392.384 | 89,0% | ||