Japan Press Weekly

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2014 September 3 - 9 TOP3 [POLITICS]

JCP secretariat head demands halt to base construction responding to Nago election results

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki on September 8 at a press conference in the Diet building said, “Ongoing work for the construction of a new base should immediately be halted,” in response to the results of the Nago City assembly election in which base opponents won a majority.

The JCP fielded 22 candidates in five cities and ten towns and villages in a series of local elections in Okinawa and 21 won seats, up three seats from the previous elections. The number of votes the party candidates received increased by 30%.

Yamashita expressed his determination to work even harder to help bring about the establishment of an anti-base governor-led Okinawa in the gubernatorial election scheduled for November.

Asked by reporters about Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide saying after the election outcome that the central government will proceed with the base construction as planned, the JCP representative stated, “To take no notice of the demands of Nago citizens is an affront to democracy.”

Regarding the comment made by Nakaima Hirokazu, the present Okinawa governor, saying that Sunday’s vote results “can be interpreted in different ways”, Yamashita said, “No matter how he looks at it, the citizens of Nago expressed their opposition to the new base construction.”