Japan Press Weekly

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2014 February 19 - 25 [JCP]

All 5 JCP candidates win in Tokyo’s Machida City election

All five candidates of the Japanese Communist Party on February 23 won seats in the Machida City Assembly election in Tokyo, receiving the highest number of votes ever with a record high share of the total votes cast.

The number of votes cast for the JCP runners increased to 20,001, up by 3,114 from the previous election, marking a 14.52% share of the vote. The JCP has become the third largest political force in Machida after the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komei Party.

Among the 36 winners in the 41-seat race, the four JCP incumbents ranked 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th and the newcomer JCP candidate came in 33rd. The voter turnout was 41.33%.

In the election campaign, they talked with voters about the planned increase in national health insurance premiums, nursing-care insurance premiums, childcare service fees, and sewage bills promoted by the “all-are-ruling-party” setup consisting mainly of the LDP, Komei, and the Democratic Party of Japan.

The JCP candidates proposed that improvements in livelihood- and welfare-related programs take priority over the construction of a luxurious convention center with an estimated cost of more than 10 billion yen.

They also talked about the achievements the JCP City Assembly Members’ Group has made in cooperation with citizens, such as forcing putting a stop to the city’s plan to impose fees to gain access to public school facilities for cultural and sports purposes.