Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2014 April 23 - May 6 [POLITICS]

JCP-backed candidate puts up good fight in Okinawa City mayoral election

In the Okinawa City mayoral election on April 27, a Japanese Communist Party-backed candidate made an excellent showing, but was defeated by a narrow margin of 2,000 votes by a candidate supported by the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties.

Former deputy mayor of the city Shimabukuro Yoshinori, who was backed by the JCP, the Social Democratic and the People’s Life parties as well as the Local Political Party of Okinawa, received 27,779 votes (48.1% of all votes). His rival, former LDP prefectural assemblyman, Kuwae Chisao obtained 29,968 votes with the support of the ruling block and the Democratic and the Japan Restoration parties. The election produced a voter turnout of 57.73%.

During the election campaign, Shimabukuro promised to follow the incumbent mayor’s democratic, people-oriented policies and oppose the construction of a new U.S. base in the Henoko district in Nago City.

Under a situation where united efforts against the new U.S. base construction has been spreading, politically conservative people, such as former city mayors, a former head of Kuwae’s supporters association, and assemblypersons, sided with the ex-deputy mayor.

The LDP placed importance on the election as a prelude to the gubernatorial election scheduled to be held in six months. LDP Secretary General Ishiba Shigeru visited the city three times to join its candidate in his street campaign. The Komei party also focused its efforts on the election campaign.