February 24, 2011
To get the progressive independent candidate Koike Akira elected Tokyo governor and all 221 Japanese Communist Party candidates elected to ward, city, town, and village assemblies in the subsequent simultaneous local elections, the JCP on February 23 held a big speech rally in Tokyo.
Candidate Koike of the Association for a Progressive Metropolitan Administration (former JCP House of Representatives member) criticized the 12 years of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under Governor Ishihara Shintaro for cutting annual welfare spending for the elderly to the lowest level in Japan. Koike pointed out that Governor Ishihara increased spending for large-scale land development projects for seven straight years while reducing spending for social programs.
Koike expressed his determination if elected to change Tokyo from the one addicted to large-scale land development projects to one caring for citizens’ well-being.
JCP Chair Shii Kazuo said that at issue in the metropolitan gubernatorial election to be held on April 10 is whether to maintain or change the Ishihara-style government that is spending enormous sums of tax revenues on large construction projects. Which candidate is capable of achieving progressive change is another issue in the election, he added, no matter how the lineup of other candidates may be.
Shii also explained about the role JCP members of each local assembly are playing. He said that there are 240 JCP local assembly members in Tokyo, ranking the third highest among all political parties and accounting for 14.3% of assembly members. If this percentage were to materialize in the House of Representatives, the JCP would have 69 seats.
These JCP assembly members groups operate as the best conduit for citizens to convey their demands to the assemblies concerned. In the last four years, the JCP in local assemblies in Tokyo submitted 389 ordinance drafts, which were more than twice the total of the three leading parties combined, the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and the Democratic parties.
Shii also explained how cooperation between citizens and these JCP assembly groups has achieved improvements in local welfare systems in their cities, wards, towns and villages and helped push the Tokyo government to follow their lead. For example, such cooperation forced Ishihara to approve the introduction of a free medical services system for children of up to15 years old, and increase the number of authorized public day-nurseries for children by 3.2 times of what it was in the preceding four years, despite the governor’s initial refusal to act.
The elections for local assemblies in Tokyo are scheduled for April 24.
At the close of the meeting, Shii called on rally participants to work to change Japan’s politics, starting with Tokyo.
Candidate Koike of the Association for a Progressive Metropolitan Administration (former JCP House of Representatives member) criticized the 12 years of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under Governor Ishihara Shintaro for cutting annual welfare spending for the elderly to the lowest level in Japan. Koike pointed out that Governor Ishihara increased spending for large-scale land development projects for seven straight years while reducing spending for social programs.
Koike expressed his determination if elected to change Tokyo from the one addicted to large-scale land development projects to one caring for citizens’ well-being.
JCP Chair Shii Kazuo said that at issue in the metropolitan gubernatorial election to be held on April 10 is whether to maintain or change the Ishihara-style government that is spending enormous sums of tax revenues on large construction projects. Which candidate is capable of achieving progressive change is another issue in the election, he added, no matter how the lineup of other candidates may be.
Shii also explained about the role JCP members of each local assembly are playing. He said that there are 240 JCP local assembly members in Tokyo, ranking the third highest among all political parties and accounting for 14.3% of assembly members. If this percentage were to materialize in the House of Representatives, the JCP would have 69 seats.
These JCP assembly members groups operate as the best conduit for citizens to convey their demands to the assemblies concerned. In the last four years, the JCP in local assemblies in Tokyo submitted 389 ordinance drafts, which were more than twice the total of the three leading parties combined, the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and the Democratic parties.
Shii also explained how cooperation between citizens and these JCP assembly groups has achieved improvements in local welfare systems in their cities, wards, towns and villages and helped push the Tokyo government to follow their lead. For example, such cooperation forced Ishihara to approve the introduction of a free medical services system for children of up to15 years old, and increase the number of authorized public day-nurseries for children by 3.2 times of what it was in the preceding four years, despite the governor’s initial refusal to act.
The elections for local assemblies in Tokyo are scheduled for April 24.
At the close of the meeting, Shii called on rally participants to work to change Japan’s politics, starting with Tokyo.
