Anti-base candidate wins in Ginowan mayoral race

Japan Press Weekly

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

Anti-base candidate wins in Ginowan mayoral race

Asato Takeshi, successor to anti-base mayor Iha Yoichi, on November 28 won in the Ginowan City mayoral election in Okinawa, beating his rival backed by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komei Party.

For the Okinawa gubernatorial election, the number of votes in Ginowan City polled for the city's predecessor Iha exceeded the votes cast for reelected Governor Nakaima Hirokazu.

Ginowan residents in both contests clearly showed their demand of opposing the Futenma base relocation to anywhere in the prefecture.

In the mayoral race, Asato defeated the LDP-Komei candidate, a former Lower House member, who supported the plan to move the base from Ginowan City to Nago City's Henoko, by a margin of 1,800. In the governor's race, Iha received 2,600 more votes than Nakaima did.

The following day, new mayor Asato at a news conference stated, "In the governor's race campaign, incumbent Nakaima had to begin calling for the relocation of the Futenma base ‘outside Okinawa'. 1.3 million prefectural people heard this pledge. The construction of another U.S. base inside our prefecture will now be impossible and Okinawans will not allow it. In coordination with Nago City Mayor Inamine Susumu, another anti-base mayor, I will work harder to get the Futenma base out of Japan."

Opinion polls conducted by the Ginowan local paper showed that 96 percent of respondents expressed opposition to the base relocation "within Okinawa". They have taken the lead in the overall demand of Okinawans against the plan to build a new base in Okinawa.

- Akahata, November 30, 2010