Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election starts

At the start of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election campaign on June 15, 44 Japanese Communist Party candidates from all constituencies took to the streets to call for the defense of the citizens' well-being by restoring the welfare services which were slashed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

In the June 24 election, 127 seats will be contested by all 244 candidates. The assembly is held every four years.

Four years ago, the JCP won 26 seats to become the second largest force next to the Liberal Democratic Party in the metropolitan assembly.

The JCP aims at increasing its seats to exert greater influence not only in defending Tokyo citizens' livelihoods but also in correcting the nation's political course as an influential party in Japan's capital.

The first legal handbill the JCP distributed on the announcement day begins with the greeting, "Hello, this is the JCP," and puts forward the JCP policy on how to defend the welfare of the people in Tokyo. Those who read the handbill, including young and old, said that it is easy to read and understand.

JCP Central Committee Chair Fuwa Tetsuzo, Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo, and Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi made their first-day stumping speeches in front of major railway stations in Tokyo. (end)