Overview

• Officials announced the election on September 21 with four candidates confirmed, and ballots will be cast and counted on October 5.
• Incumbent Masao Omori, 71, seeks a fourth term with recommendations from the national leadership of the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People, plus the Okayama prefectural organizations of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.
• Challengers filing as independents are civic-group official Chidori Mukaidani, 67, former prefectural police officer Masato Kanzaki, 37, and former city council speaker Masahiko Uragami, 60.
• Core issues include evaluations of Omori’s three-term administration and whether to proceed with a new arena of roughly 10,000 seats, which local reporting estimates at about ¥28 billion.
• In opening statements, Omori emphasized continuity and boosting residents’ enthusiasm, Mukaidani urged “livelihoods before an arena,” and Kanzaki called for a sustainable city in the face of rapid aging.