Japan Press Weekly

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2011 April 20 - 26 [ELECTION]

JCP wins 1,031 seats in municipal elections

In the second half of the simultaneous local elections held on April 24, 1,031 Japanese Communist Party members were elected, down by 158 from the last election four years ago.

In 558 municipalities, 1,225 JCP candidates ran election campaigns calling for stronger relief and reconstruction efforts in the disaster-hit region, a shift from nuclear power to renewable energy sources, and promotion of welfare and disaster-prevention policies.

With many of its seats uncontested this time, the JCP still has more than 2,800 local assembly members, occupying 8.34% of total local assembly seats (8.92% in 2007).

Although the party received 120.1 percent of the votes cast in the 2010 House of Councilors election, the latest votes cast was 87.7% of the last nationwide local elections in 2007.

The party won seats in 22 local assemblies which had no JCP members in the last four years. However, it lost representatives in 35 municipalities.

The number of other parties’ elected members are:
Democratic Party of Japan: 505 (-3)
Liberal Democratic Party: 793 (-82)
Komei Party: 1262 (-32)
Your Party: 144
Social Democratic Party: 102 (-48)