Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 1 - 7 [ELECTION]

JCP-backed candidate wages good fight with incumbent Kyoto mayor

In the Kyoto mayoral election on February 5, independent candidate Nakamura Kazuo, backed by a wide range of citizens and the Japanese Communist Party, put up a great battle in his contest with incumbent Kadokawa Daisaku, who was supported by ruling party and all the other opposition parties.

Nakamura, a 57-year-old lawyer, increased the number of votes received to 189,971 from the 157,521 he received in the last mayoral election four years ago. His share of the total vote rose from 37.02% to 46.1%.

This was a surprising show of strength for many in the incumbent camp. An official of the city assembly’s ruling coalition said, “Before the election campaign opened, we were expecting a landslide victory for Kadokawa since he was the incumbent backed by the three local ruling parties. We never thought we had to fight that close a race.”

As a head of Kadokawa’s camp announced before the election that they will establish a strong “combined force” with the Democratic, Liberal Democratic, and Komei parties as well as the economic circles to win in this election (Mainichi Shimbun, January 21, 2012), Kadokawa was accompanied by supportive parliamentarians almost every day during his campaign.

On the other hand, calling for people-oriented policies, including cuts in national health insurance premiums and more public job offers to local business owners, Nakamura received support from a wide range of Kyoto residents. His opposition to the national government’s plan to raise the consumption tax was wholeheartedly welcomed by many local business leaders.

Many residents, including those who had never taken part in political activities, supported Nakamura’s call for a shift from nuclear power generation to renewable energy sources in Kyoto City, located between 30 and 80 km from 14 nuclear power reactors located in Wakasa Bay in Fukui Prefecture.

Nakamura’s recognition of clubs as important cultural venues for youth and his opposition to regulations late-night operations generated support by young people with Internet blogs and Twitter.

On February 6, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi praised candidate Nakamura and Kyoto residents by saying, “They fought in a close race with Mayor Kadokawa, who was backed by all the parties except the JCP.”

At a press conference, Ichida stressed that the number of votes Nakamura received was more than double the votes the JCP received in the 2010 House of Councilors elections while Kadokawa obtained only 49.1% of the number of votes his supporting parties obtained in the election. “This result shows that the support base for the two major parties has dramatically weakened in Kyoto while the JCP is promoting its cooperation with a wide range of people, including those with no formal political affiliation.”