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TOKYO : Voters in Tokyo went to the polls Sunday in a closely watched gubernatorial election, with outspoken nationalist Shintaro Ishihara favoured to win a third term to lead the world's largest metropolis.
Tokyo is one of 13 provinces holding elections on Sunday in the run-up to July's upper house elections, which will be a key test for embattled conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Ishihara, an independent who is supported by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, is well ahead in opinion polls despite the opposition's hopes that a series of scandals would bring him down.
"I will be back here," Ishihara said Saturday in a stump speech near the headquarters of the metropolitan government in the capital's entertainment and business district of Shinjuku.
"I think this is the last election in my career," said the 74-year-old novelist-turned-politician. "Please lend me your support."
Ishihara, a bugbear for liberals with his outspoken criticism of everything from China to feminism, has grown popular in part due to policies such as banning diesel engines to improve air quality.
His platform calls for tougher measures against crime and -- his pet project --bringing the Summer Olympics to Tokyo in 2016.
Some 10.42 million people are eligible to vote. Polls opened at 7:00 am (2200 GMT), with ballot counting to begin soon after voting closes at 8:00 pm (1100 GMT).
Ishihara is running against 13 candidates including a street musician, a taxi driver, a feng shui expert and a fortune teller.
His most prominent rival is Shiro Asano, a former governor of northern Miyagi prefecture supported by the main opposition.
Other candidates include Kisho Kurokawa, the acclaimed architect who designed Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Ishihara has long courted controversy with blunt remarks such as using racial slurs to deride Chinese and Korean residents and describing women past childbearing age as "hags".
More recently, he has come under fire for awarding a government art project to his son and for racking up large bills on overseas trips -- paid with taxpayers' money.
But opinion polls show Ishihara is more popular than Abe, who has faced questions about his authority.
Abe, Japan's youngest post-World War II leader at 52, has come under fire after a series of gaffes and scandals involving close aides and his party's readmission of lawmakers who defied reform-minded former premier Junichiro Koizumi.
However, Abe is due to show his diplomatic clout with a rare visit to Tokyo this week by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao aimed at repairing ties soured under Koizumi.
Abe also heads later this month to the United States for a summit with President George W. Bush.
"The election is very important for the Abe administration as it is a key opportunity to listen to people's voices ahead of the upper house election," said Tetsuro Kato, professor of politics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.
However, it remains to be seen whether a win by Ishihara would give a sizable boost to Abe, as the Tokyo governor has refused the outright endorsement of any party.
Incumbents are favoured in most of the other races. In Kanagawa prefecture which includes Japan's second most populous city Yokohama, the governor backed by the main opposition is expected to win another term. - AFP/ir
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