Unreasonable move by LDP and Komei to force progressive governor to resign -- Akahata editorial, March 23 (excerpts)

In the Tokushima Prefectural Assembly on March 20, an anti-progressive opposition coalition consisting of three groups, including the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, railroaded through a non-confidence motion against Governor Ota Tadashi, almost a year after a citizens' group and the Japanese Communist Party together succeeded in making him the governor.

Following the passage of the motion, the governor will either dissolve the prefectural assembly or resign as the governor.

An absurdity

The reason the LDP-Komei coalition gave for the non-confidence resolution was that Governor Ota has broken his campaign promises, causing confusion in the prefectural government. But the past eleven months since Governor Ota's inauguration show nothing to discredit Governor Ota.

Ota was elected as Tokushima governor on April 28, 2002 supported by a wide range of people after the former governor was arrested and forced to resign on charges of bribery over public works projects. As Tokushima governor, Ota has carried out administrative reforms in the residents' interests: He assembled a team to investigate the charges against former governor's corruption, and responding to public demand he introduced a smaller maximum class size in public schools. Apparently, the non-confidence resolution was aimed at blocking the governor's reform efforts.

Both the LDP and Komei are not qualified to criticize the governor for breaking promises. All know that they are the ones who have constantly tried to foil the governor's proposals.

For the establishment of a third-party team to investigate into the former governor's charges of bribery, Governor Ota proposed funding a 10-million yen budget for the start-up cost for investigations. But the LDP-Komei alliance objected the composition of the investigation team and rejected the budgetary proposal. This is nothing less than interference with the investigation.

Angered by this course of events, Tokushima residents voluntarily started a fund-raising campaign to help fund the investigation team. Facing fierce public criticism, the LDP and Komei parties eventually approved the budget allocation.

The criticism from the LDP and Komei toward the governor who is working in good faith with the public will rebound on themselves. (end)