election

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP wins in by-election in Osaka

A Japanese Communist Party candidate won one of the two seats contested by five candidates in a by-election on August 6 in the Higashi Osaka City constituency of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly.

Kuchihara Makoto received 21,563 votes, only 163 fewer than a Liberal Democratic Party candidate who was elected with the largest number of votes.

With ten seats now in the assembly, the JCP has reestablished the right to submit bills.

The JCP won this victory five weeks after Nagao Junzo, a JCP member, was elected as the Higashi Osaka mayor on July 2.

All political parties in the Osaka Prefectural Assembly, except for the JCP, are supporters of Osaka Governor Ota Fusae who has followed Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro's "structural reform" policy by cutting back on public spending on welfare, medical, and educational services and promoting wasteful public works projects, including the second phase of the construction of the Kansai International Airport, and succumbing to pressure from the "Buraku Liberation League" (Kaido), a chauvinistic "anti-discrimination" special interest group.

During the election campaign, JCP candidate Kuchihara promised voters to work to improve residents' living conditions in cooperation with Mayor Nagao and put an end to measures that are exclusively in favor of Kaido. This proved to be effective in showing voters his stance of confronting Governor Ota's undemocratic policies.

In contrast, other candidates neither informed voters of their policies nor stated their intention to support the needs of the residents. Even among their supporters, criticism was increasing because these candidates were spending most of their time on internal power struggles, instead of showing the willingness to be responsible guardians of the interest of residents.

Although the Democratic Party is part of the ruling majority in the Osaka Prefectural Assembly, a DP candidate desperately pretended to be an opposition party candidate by saying, "The governor is forcing the public to pay the Osaka Prefectural Government's debt of six trillion yen." This candidate finished last.
- Akahata, July 7 & 8, 2006