Abe Takes Loss in Okinawa Governor Election Seriously

October 1, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe accepted with sincerity on Monday the defeat of the candidate supported by the central government in Sunday's gubernatorial election in Okinawa Prefecture.

"The government takes (the election result) seriously and will make efforts to revitalize Okinawa and alleviate its burden of hosting U.S. bases," Abe told reporters.

The government plans to decide specific ways to proceed with a plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in a congested area in the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the less populated Henoko coastal area in Nago, also in the southern prefecture, while paying attention to moves to be taken by Denny Tamaki, who won the election.

The relocation plan, based on an agreement between Japan and the United States, has been halted since the withdrawal in late August by the Okinawa prefectural government of approval for the landfill work needed for the construction of a new U.S. base in Henoko.

The central government is planning to apply to a court for a stay of execution for the withdrawal. It is expected to decide carefully when to make the move by taking the election result into consideration.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that the central government's resolve to realize an early relocation of the base to the Henoko district is unwavering.

The withdrawal of the landfill work approval will be properly handled by the local defense bureau, Suga said, noting the government's intention to take the matter to court.

He also expressed a wish to meet Tamaki if their schedules allow. "I'll explain carefully the central government's efforts" to promote Okinawa's development and reduce the base-hosting burdens of the prefecture, Suga said.

Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters when to take the planned legal action "needs to be judged comprehensively."

It is "inevitable" that Tamaki's victory will have an impact on the government, said a ruling bloc member who once served as a cabinet minister.

Dissatisfaction may grow with Abe, who won a third consecutive three-year term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last month, political watchers said.

In the opposition camp, Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that the election result "has great meaning in that (local residents) said no to the prime minister, who had just been elected for a third term."

Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki said the election result is a judgment handed to the Abe administration, adding that it marks a turning point in the political tide. Jiji Press