JCP Ichida calls for early establishment of law to give permanent foreign residents right to vote in local elections

Japan Press Weekly

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JCP Ichida calls for early establishment of law to give permanent foreign residents right to vote in local elections

Asked for a comment by reporters that the Democratic Party of Japan intends to submit to this extraordinary Diet session a bill to allow permanent foreign residents to vote in local elections, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi on November 9 expressed that the JCP will support an early enactment of the bill.

Explaining that the JCP has always been demanding local suffrage for foreigners with permanent residency, Ichida said, “Allowing foreigners, who undertake certain obligations, including tax payment, as residents of Japanese local communities, to participate in local administration is fundamentally in accord with the spirit of local autonomy guaranteed by the Japanese Constitution.”

- Akahata, November 10, 2009