July 23, 2013

In Kagoshima’s Soo City mayoral election held on July 21, Japanese Communist Party member Goitsuka Tsuyoshi defeated incumbent Ikeda Takashi who was backed by the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.

Goitsuka, a former member of the city assembly, is the first JCP mayor in Kagoshima Prefecture, and the eighth JCP municipal head in Japan.

In the election campaign, Goitsuka argued that the former mayor’s plan to spend 1.3 billion yen on the construction of a flower park is wasteful use of taxpayers’ money. He called for the cancellation of the plan and won broad support across party lines.