October 16, 2024

A kickoff rally for Akamine Seiken, an “All-Okinawa” candidate in the Okinawa No.1 district, took place on October 15 in front of the Okinawa prefectural government office in Naha City.

Akamine is the only united opposition candidate whom the Japanese Communist Party is fielding.

An independent Okinawa prefectural assemblyperson moderated the rally, and JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira, an assemblyperson respectively from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and from the Okinawa Social Mass Party, and former House of Councilors member Itokazu Keiko appealed to Okinawa voters to vote for Akamine. Futami Nobuaki, former vice president of the Komei Party, sent a message in solidarity to Akamine.

Koike in his speech to support Akamine called for an All-Okinawa unity to resist the government plan to construct a new U.S. base in Henoko and make Okinawa a “military fortress”.

Koike noted that Prime Minister Ishiba, when he was LDP secretary general, forced LDP Dietmembers, who had been elected in Okinawa for their opposition to the base construction, to give in to pressure from the Tokyo LDP to accept the new base. He criticized the LDP candidates who had betrayed Okinawans and said, “We absolutely cannot lose to them.”

Akamine in his campaign speech said, “Let us unite against the central government that disregards the Constitution and is forcibly imposing another military base on Okinawans. Only when Okinawans are united will we be able to eradicate sexual assaults by U.S. soldiers and revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Please send me to the Diet again so I can give voice to your concerns.”

Okinawa Governor Tamaki Denny, later on the same day, took to the streets to appeal to voters to cast a vote for Akamine.

Past related article:
> Okinawa’s LDP lawmakers cancel promises to oppose US base construction [November 26, 2013]