 JCP puts up good fight in local assembly elections In March 27 local assembly elections, 27 out of 31 Japanese Communist Party candidates were elected, including four in the Koganei City Assembly in Tokyo (see separate item). In Shizuoka City with a population of 500,000, the five JCP incumbents were reelected in spite of difficulty arising from assembly seat cuts following a merger of municipalities. The JCP has gained the right to submit bills to the assembly. During the election campaign, JCP candidates took up issues of national health insurance premiums, water and sewage fees, and quake-proof measures after the merger. They have raised the JCP share in the assembly seats to 9.43 percent from 8.97 percent. In Fujimi City, Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo, four out of five JCP candidates were elected to the assembly, though the number of city assembly seats was reduced by five to 21. In Shidara Town in Aichi Prefecture, Central Japan, Tanaka Kunitoshi, the JCP candidate, made a successful comeback in the assembly election with the largest number of votes, while gaining more than twice as many votes as in the last election. In Japan, municipality mergers are under way. There were more than 3,200 municipalities six years ago. The number has been reduced to the current 2,571, and is expected to be under 2,000 in March 2006. (end) |