 Grassroots cooperation with JCP contributes to winning Kochi Governor Hashimoto's fifth term In Kochi Prefecture, Hashimoto Daijiro won his fifth term as governor in the November 28 gubernatorial election, which was held because Governor Hashimoto resigned after the Liberal Democratic Party in the prefectural assembly used their majority to pass a resolution calling for him to step down based on unfound allegations. In the election campaign Hashimoto called for support for his reform policy in the people's interest. He criticized the central government for imposing unbearable burdens on local governments in the name of central and local fiscal "reform." He received 226,842 votes (54 percent), even though the LDP and Komei collaborated to end Hashimoto's governorship. The Japanese Communist Party worked in support of Hashimoto, letting the public know how unreasonable the attempt to depose a publicly-elected governor was, and called for rejection of politics under the influence of vested interests. In an unusual move, the LDP and Komei had 70 of their Dietmembers, including cabinet ministers, campaign for Hashimoto's opponent, former Kochi City mayor. Satake Mineo, JCP Kochi Prefectural committee chair, said that behind Hashimoto's victory is an unprecedented growth of solidarity between people at the grass roots and the JCP. To expose the maneuvers by forces representing special interests and the LDP against the Hashimoto administration, the JCP prefectural committee held 20 political report meetings, and a total of a thousand people took part in them. Many people offered their help in distributing handbills. (end) |