Ichiro Hirosawa, a former vice mayor of Nagoya, won the mayoral election in the city on Sunday, succeeding Takashi Kawamura, who served for around 15 years.

The election took place after Kawamura returned to the House of Representatives in the general election in late October, becoming the first lawmaker of the populist far-right Conservative Party of Japan.

Hirosawa, 60, campaigned along with Kawamura, promising to continue cutting local taxes and reducing the mayor's salary. Voter turnout was 40 percent, around 2.5 percentage points down from the previous election in 2021.

"Voters understood that I will maintain Mr. Kawamura's policies and principles," Hirosawa, who began his political career in the Aichi prefectural assembly, told supporters Sunday night after hearing the results.

Hirosawa was challenged by former upper house member Kohei Otuska, who was backed by the ruling and some opposition parties, as well as five other candidates.