Japan Press Weekly

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2008 April 30 - May 13 [US FORCES]

City Assembly to discuss referendum over plan to deploy U.S. nuclear-powered carrier to Yokosuka

In Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, an extraordinary session of the city assembly will be held from May 12 to discuss an ordinance to hold a referendum over whether to accept the deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.

Five representatives of the Association for the Success of the Referendum on the Homeporting of a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier on May 7 submitted to Mayor Kabaya Ryoichi a request for the enactment of an ordinance to hold a referendum based on the request that was made by about 49,000 signatures in support of the referendum.

Mayor Kabaya will call an extraordinary session of the city assembly and submit a proposed ordinance with his comment.

At the meeting with the mayor, Goto Masahiko, a lawyer who represents the Association, read the statement that said, “Compared to the previous request (in 2007), we have collected 10,000 more signatures. We ask the mayor and the legislature to sincerely consider the importance of the number and to adopt the bill without fail.”

In 2007, when the request for a referendum was considered by the city assembly, Kabaya gave his view that the deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is a matter to be dealt with at the national government level and that a referendum should not be the way to deal with it.

At an extraordinary session of the Yokosuka City Assembly in 2007, the bill was supported by the Japanese Communist Party and some other smaller parties but was rejected by a majority vote of Liberal Democratic, Komei, and other conservative parties.

Later in the day, Kabaya said to reporters, “My position remains unchanged. I will repeat what I said last year.” - Akahata, May 8, 2008