Prefectural assembly election campaign starts

Assembly elections in 44 prefectures, except for Ibaraki, Tokyo, and Okinawa, and in 12 major cities, except for Kitakyushu, on April 4 rang a gong bell to officially start the term for campaigning.

As the first half of simultaneous local elections, those assembly elections will take place on April 13, along with 10 gubernatorial elections and the Sapporo City mayoral election.

About 3,800 candidates are running for prefectural assembly elections, and 392 of them are Japanese Communist Party candidates (including those supported by the JCP). 171 JCP candidates out of about 1,200 are contesting in major city assembly elections.

The JCP, in the prefectural assembly elections four years ago, increased the number of its seats from 98 to 152. In the 12 major cities, the JCP now holds 137 seats.

The JCP in the Kyoto City Assembly maintains 29 percent of all seats, the largest of all JCP representations in local assemblies.

In Shimane and Kumamoto prefectures, the JCP has no seat at present. (end)