Japan gets youngest-ever female Mayor

Tokyo: A 33-year-old former secretary of a ruling party lawmaker has become Japan's youngest-ever female mayor after winning election in Yawata, Kyoto prefecture, local media reported on Monday.

Shoko Kawata, an independent backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), junior coalition partner Komeito and the main opposition party Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, beat two other contenders in the mayoral election held on Sunday following the resignation of the former mayor, Xinhua quoted the Japanese Kyodo News Agency as saying.

"I want to empathize with people from all generations and work on creating a community that can grow," Kawata said as she celebrated her victory with supporters.

Prior to her mayoral win, Kawata, a native of Nara in western Japan, served as a caseworker in the Kyoto city government in 2015.

After leaving the city government, she assumed the role of a secretary of Akiko Santo, a House of Councillors member who belongs to the LDP.

Kawata's victory surpasses the previous record held by Sawako Naito, who became the youngest female mayor in Japan at the age of 36.