JCP member elected as town mayor in Fukushima

A Japanese Communist Party member was elected as mayor of Ryozen Town in Fukushima Prefecture on July 7.

Supported by a group of residents, candidate Ohashi Yoshihiro, former JCP member of the Ryozen Town Assembly, got 4,092 votes and defeated Tonegawa Yasunori, former town assembly chair and construction company president, who got 2,456 votes.

Ohashi, the 10th JCP member to be elected as mayor, said he will work with residents to make the town government truly function as a self-governing body.

One of his supporters said, "The Liberal Democratic Party didn't do anything good for us. I place great expectations on the new mayor."

What's behind the birth of JCP town mayor?

In the July 7 mayoral election in Ryozen Town in Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese Communist Party member Ohashi Yoshihiro beat a conservative candidate Tonegawa Yasunori backed by the Liberal Democratic Party by a wide margin. Ohashi has become the 10th JCP member who heads a local autonomy. Let's look at what was behind this victory.

At the beginning of the campaign, Tonegawa who runs a construction company in the town was expected to win easily. Local residents, beyond conservatives or progressives, felt a sense of crisis that "the town would be exploited by a handful of people," and launched a citizens' group that backed JCP Ohashi.

Ohashi himself is a farmer who has served as a Ryozen Town Assembly member for six years. His career includes being the chairman of the local rural youth group, head of the peach production unit at an agricultural cooperative, and an agricultural commissioner.

Grasping that 86% of the town people are concerned about job uncertainties, Ohashi promised to provide loans to smaller businesses to secure and expand jobs.

Announcing that the role of a local autonomy is to protect and improve residents' living conditions, he pledged: a 30% cut in the mayor's salary, abolition of official limousines, transparency of administrative works, constructions of welfare facilities such as a nursery home for elderly people, and improvements in housing and educational facilities.

The Tonegawa camp only carried out anti-communist attacks, saying, "The central and prefectural governments won't allot subsidies to a communist headed-town." Ohashi and his supporters, including a conservative town assembly member, staged a counterattack by citing an example of another town with a JCP-mayor. They explained to the town people that the "anti-communist method" no longer works in a democratic society, and that the amount of subsidies is decided by law and ordinance.

The anti-communist campaign backfired. Many town people said they were fed up with the anti-communist rhetoric. (end)