Morikawa puts up good fight: Kyoto gubernatorial election

A candidate supported by the Japanese Communist Party put up a good fight in the April 7 Kyoto gubernatorial election.

Morikawa Akira, who called for a democratic prefectural government that will put residents first, received 391,638 votes, up 30,000 from the previous election four years ago.

Although he lost to former vice governor Yamada Keiji who was backed by six parties, Morikawa's votes represented 39.55 percent of votes cast and were more than double the votes the JCP received in Kyoto in the 2001 Upper House election.

Backed jointly by the Liberal Democratic Party, the Komei Party, the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the New Conservative Party, Yamada got 482,158 votes (48.69 percent). The number only represents half of the total votes of these six parties in Kyoto in the 2001 Upper House election.

Fudesaka Hideyo, JCP Acting Secretariat head, stated that the election results show a severe public criticism of LDP-led politics backed by all the other parties except the JCP for continuing with corruption involving cozy relations between politicians, bureaucrats, and businesses, and for abandoning their responsibility to safeguard the living conditions of residents.

Morikawa said, "Our opinions stand to reason. We will keep struggling for better Kyoto politics." (end)