青森知事に宮下氏初当選　２０年ぶり交代、保守分裂制す

　任期満了に伴う青森県知事選は４日投開票され、無所属新人で前青森県むつ市長の宮下宗一郎氏（４４）が、無所属新人で前青森市長の小野寺晃彦氏（４７）ら３人を破り、初当選を果たした。投票率は５７．０５％で、前回（４０．０８％）を１６．９７ポイント上回った。
　５期務めた三村申吾知事（６７）の退任に伴い、２０年ぶりに知事が交代。自民党は推薦候補を一本化できず、党所属県議らの支持が宮下、小野寺両氏に割れる保守分裂選挙となった。
　立憲民主、公明両党も自主投票となり、政党色が弱まる中、宮下氏は「青森新時代」を掲げて三村県政からの転換を主張。子ども医療費や保育料の無償化などの少子化対策を訴え支持を広げた。
　三村氏が支援を表明した小野寺氏は、自民の一部の国会議員や県議らの応援を受けたが及ばなかった。
　いずれも無所属新人で元むつ市議の横垣成年氏（６３）＝共産、社民推薦、元会社員の楠田謙信氏（６６）は浸透しなかった。（2023/06/05-00:16）

A former mayor of the city of Mutsu, Aomori Prefecture, won Sunday's gubernatorial election in the northeastern Japan prefecture, defeating his three rivals.
   Soichiro Miyashita, 44, was elected Aomori governor for the first time. His three rivals were Akihiko Onodera, 47, former mayor of the city of Aomori, the capital of the prefecture, Naritoshi Yokogaki, 63, a former member of the Mutsu city assembly, and former corporate worker Kenshin Kusuda, 66.
   All four candidates ran in the election as independents. Miyashita garnered 404,358 votes, trouncing Onodera, Yokogaki and Kusuda, who collected 174,155 votes, 10,516 votes and 4,769 votes, respectively. Voter turnout stood at 57.05 pct, up from 40.08 pct in the previous Aomori gubernatorial election in 2019.
   The prefecture will see the first change of its governor in 20 years. Incumbent Governor Shingo Mimura, 67, is set to retire after serving for five four-year terms.
   The country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party had failed to pick a single candidate to support in the Aomori poll, resulting in some LDP members in the Aomori prefectural assembly backing Miyashita and others favoring Onodera.