Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services had advised investors to vote against his re-election because Sony, after years of losses, failed to achieve a minimum condition of a five-year ROE average of 5 percent.

Hirai won 89 percent of votes last year, at a time when Sony was only starting to show signs of a turnaround due to massive cost cuts and strong sales of camera sensors and videogames.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Chris Gallagher)