2009 June 24 - 30 [
ELECTION]
Yokosuka’s mayor supporting U.S. N-powered carrier homeporting defeated
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June 30, 2009
In the mayoral election on June 28, Kabaya Ryoichi, the incumbent mayor backed by the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Democratic parties, as well as by former Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro, was defeated by Yoshida Yuto, a 33-year-old former city assembly member, who ran as an independent candidate.
Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi commented on the election result at a news conference on June 29 as follows:
“The election result shows that many voters wanted political change and supported neither the LDP nor the DPJ.”
Ichida said that Yokosuka City has been a “military city” for more than a century since it first became a city, and it has been used as the home base of the U.S. Seventh Fleet since 1973, and as the only homeport for a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world outside the U.S. from last year.
For the “military city” whose mayors in the past 36 years were former government bureaucrats without exception, the defeat of an incumbent mayor is highly significant, Ichida added.
Referring to lawyer Goto Masahiko, who was recommended by the JCP and failed to be elected, Ichida stated that he made a good fight.
Recalling that Yokosuka citizens in the past few years waged a signature collection campaign calling for the enactment of a city referendum on the pros and cons of accepting the U.S. nuclear carrier’s homeport status, Ichida expressed his determination that the JCP will join hands with citizens so that the homeporting at Yokosuka will be halted and various other demands will be met.
In this election, Yoshida obtained about 48,000 votes against Kabaya’s 44,000 and Goto’s 23,000. - Akahata, June 30, 2009
