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2024 December 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

Pro-civic candidate beats LDP-backed incumbent in Tokyo’s Kunitachi City

A candidate supported by citizens and pro-citizens parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, won in the election for Tokyo’s Kunitachi City mayor on December 15, defeating the incumbent who was seeking a third term with the backing of the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party, and the “Tomin First no Kai” party.

Hamasaki Shinya, 40, backed also by the Social Democratic Party and the Seikatsusha Net, promised during his election campaign: to lower childcare and afterschool childcare fees; protect the good living environment and green landscapes in Kunitachi; support local businesses; and establish “local production for local consumption” of energy and food.

The incumbent’s camp waged anti-communist attacks in order to divide the citizens, saying, “We must not create a city that is mired in communist ideology.”