 JCP publishes 2005 Metropolitan Assembly election list The Japanese Communist Party has published the first list of 28 candidates running in the 2005 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. At a news conference on October 5, JCP Tokyo Metropolitan Committee Chair Wakabayashi Yoshiharu said, "We will fight to defend the present 15 seats and seek to win extra seats" to stop the cuts in social services and unconstitutional policies. All parties except the JCP have supported the Tokyo Metropolitan Government policies under Governor Ishihara Shintaro that have slashed 66 billion yen in the last five years from the welfare budget, thus abandoning the duty to improve the public well-being. They helped the Ishihara administration promote big development projects in the name of urban development only to deepen Tokyo's financial crisis. They are also responsible for allowing Governor Ishihara to force public school teachers and students to sing "Kimigayo" at school ceremonies in violation of the Constitution. He said that the JCP will campaign to let the public know how essential it is to increase the number of JCP seats in the metropolitan assembly in order to improve social services and promote peace and democracy in response to public demand. In the 127-seat Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, the LDP (52 seats) and the Komei Party (21 seats) form the ruling coalition, but the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (21 seats) admits that its position is little different from that of the ruling parties. (end) |