 JCP call for an end to wasteful use of tax money captured citizens' hearts In the Kitakyushu City Assembly election on January 30, all the 10 Japanese Communist Party candidates were elected. It received 13.07 percent of the votes, up 0.13 points from the previous election. Akahata on February 1 reported that this JCP victory was a result of citizens' support for the JCP which called for tax money to be used for the public health insurance and the school lunch systems by eliminating wasteful expenditure on unnecessary public works projects. In the era of an aging society, Kitakyushu City ranks second among major cities in its high ratio of the cost for national health insurance premiums relative to one's income. The demand for a reduction in national health insurance premiums come at the top of the list of priorities in a JCP city assembly group's questionnaire to 5,000 citizens. The mayor and the coalition of the ruling and opposition parties (except the JCP) allowed a 100 billion yen expenditure on constructing giant commercial malls and import promotion areas that failed. In sharp contrast, the JCP represented the citizens' keen demand for the national health insurance premium and nursing care-insurance fees to be reduced, junior high schools be supplied with school lunches and heating systems, and more jobs to be created. The JCP city assembly members group worked to set up elevators at railway stations for elderly people, and citizens found them to be reliable and capable of settling citizens' troubles. A woman who has long been a Liberal Democratic Party member began to say to those around her, "Only the JCP assembly members act in our interests." Akahata pointed out that only the JCP increased the number of votes in comparison to the 2004 House of Councilors proportional representation election. (end) |