Rino Sashihara Will Not Participate In This Year's Senbatsu General Election

Rino Sashihara will not be participating in this year's World Senbatsu General Election.

The deadline to apply for candidacy in the election ended on March 27. Sashihara had not put herself forward as a candidate by the deadline. She later announced through her twitter account that she will not be participating.

This will be the first Senbatsu General Election that Sashihara has not participated in. She has been a candidate since the first election was held in 2009.

Sashihara sitting out of the election opens up the winner position for someone new. Sashihara had won the election 4 out of the last 5 years.