Japan Press Weekly

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2020 October 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

JCP-backed candidates win in 2 local elections

Japanese Communist Party-backed candidates won in two local elections held in two cities in central Japan on October 18.

In the mayoral election in Aichi’s Okazaki City, Nakane Yasuhiro defeated his incumbent rival Uchida Yasuhiro with a large margin. With voluntary support from the JCP, Nakane garnered 100,000 votes, 30,000 more than Uchida. The voter turnout stood at 57%.

During the election campaign, Nakane promised to cancel former mayor Uchida’s eight-billion-yen project to construct a convention hall and instead allocate more funds to overcome the coronavirus crisis. He pledged to provide 50,000 yen each to every citizen, boost the PCR testing capacity, increase support measures for medical workers and small businesses, and introduce small class sizes in public schools.

In Shima City in Mie Prefecture, JCP candidate Mori Mitsuko was elected in the city assembly by-election. With this, the JCP increased its number of seats to two for the first time ever and obtained the right to propose bills.

In the by-election where three candidates contested for two seats, Mori received nearly 7,000 votes or 27% of the total by promising to improve preparedness against earthquakes and make school lunches free of charge.