April 15, 2025

Twenty-one of 25 Japanese Communist Party candidates were elected in local assembly elections, including one by-election, held on Apil 13 in 11 cities and eight towns.

In the mayoral election in Hyogo’s Takarazuka City, the candidate, Mori Rintaro, who was backed by the JCP and a civil group called the “Association for Building a Bright Takarazuka City Administration” won his first election. The 54-year-old pediatrician and former UN staff also received support from local assembly members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party.

The mayoral election was virtually a one-on-one fight between Mori and a 50-year-old former Liberal Democratic Party city assemblyperson who was endorsed by the LDP and the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party. During the election campaign, Mori promised that if elected, he will maintain and rebuild the city hospital and establish a network that coordinates medical, welfare, and nursing-care services in order to improve healthcare and welfare services.

In the Shimamoto Town mayoral election in Osaka, the incumbent, Yamada Kohei, 40, who received voluntary support from the JCP defeated an Ishin-backed former LDP assemblyperson, 56, and other rival candidates, securing a third term in office.

In the election campaign, he appealed to the voters for their support by stressing that during the previous two 4-year terms, he made various achievements, such as the reconstruction of the aged town office building, the improvement of the childcare environment, and the introduction of a system to subsidize the purchase of hearing aids. His campaign promises for the third term include the expansion of the town-run welfare bus service, the improvement and maintenance of roads, the maintaining of the use of groundwater for 90% of the town’s water supply, and the enhancement of residents’ autonomy, which attracted a wide range of voters.