JCP candidate for Tokyo governor gets support from public figures

With the Tokyo gubernatorial election approaching, 417 public figures on March 24 published an appeal calling for support for Wakabayashi Yoshiharu, the Japanese Communist Party candidate for Tokyo governor.

The joint appeal, endorsed by scholars, religious people, doctors, lawyers, renown athletes, artists, cartoonists, writers, film directors, professors, and actors, calls for a change in the Tokyo metropolitan government led by Ishihara Shintaro, who is known as an ultra-militarist and adversary of the war-renouncing Japanese Constitution and basic human rights.

The appeal, representing a wide spectrum of political affiliation, ideology, and beliefs, commended the JCP and Wakabayashi for their consistent confrontation with the undemocratic Tokyo administration led by Ishihara and expressed high expectations for JCP candidate Wakabayashi.

In Japan, simultaneous local elections will be held in April. Gubernatorial elections in 11 prefectures, including Tokyo, will be held on April 13 after a 17-day campaign. People from 44 prefectures and 12 major cities will also go to the polls to elect their new assemblies on April 13. Municipal assembly elections will be held on April 27.

As of March 25, the JCP is expected to put up its candidates in four gubernatorial elections and one mayoral election. It will also run 367 candidates for prefectural assemblies and about 2,500 for municipal assemblies throughout the country.

These elections will take place amid upheavals on international political scenes, such as the Iraq war. All JCP candidates will strive to establish local governments that defend people's living conditions and peace. (end)