February 22, 2011
Japanese Communist Party member and incumbent Moteki Yuji won a landslide victory in the February 20 mayoral election in Miyota Town in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan.
The number of votes cast for Moteki was 4,639 (59.5% of all votes), up 306 from the previous election, and was 1.5 times more than the total number of votes that his two rivals received.
During his first four-year term, Moteki won the town residents’ trust by implementing people-oriented policies.
Right after Moteki was officially inaugurated as the town mayor in 2007, he decided to stop using tax money to assist a special-interest group called Kaido (Buraku Liberation League) which pressures local governments to give an unfair advantage to the group in the name of overcoming discrimination. His decision enabled his administration to use the freed 40 million yen in tax revenues to improve social welfare programs.
Residents have benefited from various social welfare programs which were strengthened by the town administration under Moteki. Elderly and disabled people are thankful for the financial support which allows them to use taxis when they go to the hospital or shopping. Those who are raising children appreciate Moteki’s policies of expanding the age of eligibility for the free medical care program for children up to the age of 15, including 5-year-old children in a developmental screening program (in most of municipalities, only 1-year-old and 3-year-old children are eligible).
Moteki decreased the town government’s deficit by 900 million yen by cutting the wasteful use of tax money such as for Kaido-related projects and using subsidies from the national and prefectural governments. Meanwhile, the amount of town government’s reserve was increased. Townspeople were highly aware of these facts.
During the mayoral election campaign, those who hoped that the town government would resume preferential projects for Kaido took action in order to prevent Moteki from being reelected. In addition, Moteki’s rivals conducted an anti-communist attack. In spite of the anti-JCP campaign, the people of Miyota Town voted for Moteki in favor of his position of putting the people first.
Uehara Kazutomo, a small machinery factory owner, worked hard to help achieve Moteki’s reelection. Uehara said, “No one can accomplish as much as Moteki who has worked hard in the townspeople’s interests. I hope he will continue to make efforts to achieve further improvements in the social welfare programs and promote healthy fiscal management.”
The number of votes cast for Moteki was 4,639 (59.5% of all votes), up 306 from the previous election, and was 1.5 times more than the total number of votes that his two rivals received.
During his first four-year term, Moteki won the town residents’ trust by implementing people-oriented policies.
Right after Moteki was officially inaugurated as the town mayor in 2007, he decided to stop using tax money to assist a special-interest group called Kaido (Buraku Liberation League) which pressures local governments to give an unfair advantage to the group in the name of overcoming discrimination. His decision enabled his administration to use the freed 40 million yen in tax revenues to improve social welfare programs.
Residents have benefited from various social welfare programs which were strengthened by the town administration under Moteki. Elderly and disabled people are thankful for the financial support which allows them to use taxis when they go to the hospital or shopping. Those who are raising children appreciate Moteki’s policies of expanding the age of eligibility for the free medical care program for children up to the age of 15, including 5-year-old children in a developmental screening program (in most of municipalities, only 1-year-old and 3-year-old children are eligible).
Moteki decreased the town government’s deficit by 900 million yen by cutting the wasteful use of tax money such as for Kaido-related projects and using subsidies from the national and prefectural governments. Meanwhile, the amount of town government’s reserve was increased. Townspeople were highly aware of these facts.
During the mayoral election campaign, those who hoped that the town government would resume preferential projects for Kaido took action in order to prevent Moteki from being reelected. In addition, Moteki’s rivals conducted an anti-communist attack. In spite of the anti-JCP campaign, the people of Miyota Town voted for Moteki in favor of his position of putting the people first.
Uehara Kazutomo, a small machinery factory owner, worked hard to help achieve Moteki’s reelection. Uehara said, “No one can accomplish as much as Moteki who has worked hard in the townspeople’s interests. I hope he will continue to make efforts to achieve further improvements in the social welfare programs and promote healthy fiscal management.”
