Tokyo gubernatorial election, 2012

Tokyo held a gubernatorial election in December 16, 2012, which was held on the same day as the general election.

After long-term Governor Shintaro Ishihara suddenly resigned to return to national politics ahead of the then-looming next general election. A field of nine candidates emerged, with the front-runner being Naoki Inose, who had been vice-governor under Ishihara from 2007 to 2012, and then acting governor after Ishihara's abrupt resignation. Inose vowed to follow Ishihara's policies.

Information campaign for the polls was administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission.AKB48's Minami Takahashi, Tomomi Itano and Yui Yokoyama (also of NMB48) were appointed as image characters.

The result was a landslide victory for Inose, who received 4,338,936 votes, setting a new record for the total number of votes in a Tokyo gubernatorial election. The previous record was 3.61 million cast for the socialist Governor Ryokichi Minobe in 1971.

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