JCP candidate defeats conservative contender in by-election

In the August 25 by-election for a town assembly in Saga Prefecture, western Japan, a Japanese Communist Party candidate defeated a conservative contender. The JCP now has two seats in the Kitashigeyasu Town Assembly, which allows the JCP to propose bills.

The JCP candidate, Nakao Junko received 3,262 votes (53 percent), which is 11 times what the JCP received in the same district in the 2001 House of Councilors proportional representation election.

Kitashigeyasu Town, with a population of 11 thousand, is a rural town that has large rice paddies and rich green and hills.

The town administration for several years, has cut or scaled down social programs, including child care and old-age benefit, while increasing spending on large-scale public works projects.

In the election campaign, candidate Nakao called for a fundamental review of those public works projects so that money can be more effectively used for a smaller class size in the public school system and for the construction of cultural facilities and a long-term nursing home.

Nakao, a housewife, made a name for herself in a movement calling for a smaller class size. Many in the town know that she is a JCP member who led the movement for the last four years with mothers and teachers and that the group submitted more than 10 thousand signatures to the town assembly calling for a maximum class size of 35.

"We will use the two JCP seats in the town assembly to realize what I have promised to do during the election campaign so that the town administration can contribute to making the town more comfortable to live in," said Nakao. (end)