Okinawa Governor Race Opens; LDP Seeks Comeback after 12 Yrs

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Aug. 27 (Jiji Press)–The official campaign period began on Thursday for the Sept. 13 gubernatorial election for Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa. The focus is whether the Liberal Democratic Party will be able to retake the helm of the prefecture after a break of about 12 years. The outcome is likely to affect the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the party’s president. On Thursday, six people filed their candidacies, including LDP-backed Genta Koja, 42, former vice mayor of Naha, Okinawa’s capital, and incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki, 66, who seeks a third four-year term. Key election issues include a project to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, another Okinawa city, as well as Okinawa’s economic development. Delivering his first campaign speech in Naha, Koja said that high prices and traffic congestion are major problems the prefecture needs to tackle, pledging to “change a stagnant prefectural government into one that moves ahead.” Tamaki, speaking in the town of Motobu, stressed: “Everything is for the people of the prefecture and for the future. I will devote myself wholeheartedly to serving the people of the prefecture.” Tamaki, who opposes the U.S. base relocation, again receives the backing of the All Okinawa camp, which brings together progressive forces and some conservatives. But the camp has suffered a string of defeats in recent mayoral elections. Tamaki therefore prioritizes unaffiliated voters. He did not seek recommendations from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party or the Social Democratic Party, all of which are members of the camp. Koja, who accepts the base relocation, is backed by the LDP, the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People, Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan. His campaign team expects to gain additional votes from conservatives after Mikio Shimoji, a former lawmaker of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, concluded a policy agreement with the LDP and scrapped his plan to run. Meanwhile, Koja lacks name recognition. Another concern is that Komeito, which left the LDP-led coalition last year, has limited the scope of its backing to a recommendation from its Okinawa prefectural chapter. The Centrist Reform Alliance, formed by Lower House lawmakers from the CDP and Komeito, has left its members free to vote independently. The base relocation issue has long been central to Okinawa’s gubernatorial elections. Tamaki, however, came under criticism after a 17-year-old high school girl died in a March boat accident during a peace education program organized by a group supporting Tamaki. The girl was visiting Henoko on a school trip to see the planned U.S. base relocation site. He plans to emphasize his track record over the past eight years in office, including strong performance of the tourism sector. Koja has pledged to double per capita prefectural income. The other four candidates are company head Shun Kaneshima, 48, medical corporation leader Masahiro Sueyoshi, 73, company representative Takashi Higa, 49, and political group leader Chosuke Yara, 74. The upcoming gubernatorial election, the 15th of its kind since Okinawa’s reversion to Japan in 1972, has the largest number of candidates among the races. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]