Anti-U.S. Base Candidate Holds Lead in Okinawa Election

October 1, 2018

Naha, Okinawa Pref.- A candidate opposing relocating a U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture won the gubernatorial race in the southernmost Japan prefecture on Sunday.

The victory by Denny Tamaki, 58, a former member of the House of Representatives, is likely to affect the Japanese government's plan to build a new military base in the Henoko coastal area in the Okinawa city of Nago to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station, located in Ginowan, also in Okinawa.

Speaking to reporters in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, Tamaki said, "I'll deliver on my pledge to block the construction of a new military base in Henoko."

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is determined to proceed ahead with the Futenma relocation plan regardless of the outcome of the election, but there will likely be a delay in its implementation.

Tamaki collected 396,632 votes, a record high in gubernatorial elections in Okinawa and over 80,000 more votes than the runner-up, former Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima, 54, received.

The Futenma base occupies about 480 hectares, about a fourth of the entire city of Ginowan. It is located in a densely populated area and often described as the most dangerous airfield in the world.

In April 1996, the United States agreed to return the Futenma site. In May 2006, the two governments reached a final agreement to construct a V-shaped runway in Henoko as a replacement facility for the Futenma base.

The defeat by Sakima, who was supported by the central government, is a blow to Abe ahead of House of Councillors elections in summer next year.

The defeat came after Abe won a third consecutive three-year term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in late September. If his political clout weakens, the fate of his plan for amending the country's constitution will be put into question as the LDP's coalition partner, Komeito, takes a cautious stance on the plan. He told an LDP executive that the outcome of the Okinawa election is very regrettable.

The election in Okinawa was held to choose the successor to the late Governor Takeshi Onaga, who staunchly opposed building any new military base in the prefecture. He died of cancer in August.

During the campaign, Tamaki, while touting himself as Onaga's successor, vowed to use every possible means to block the relocation of the Futenma base to Henoko. He was backed by forces that supported Onaga.

Sakima did not discuss the advisability of the Futenma relocation plan during the campaign. Instead, he highlighted the importance of cooperation with the central government to promote economic development in Okinawa.

There were two other candidates--Hatsumi Toguchi, 83, a former member of the Naha municipal assembly, and former company employee Shun Kaneshima, 40.

Voter turnout fell 0.89 percentage point from the previous gubernatorial election in 2014 to 63.24 pct. The number of early voters came in at 406,984, or about 35 pct of all eligible voters and more than double the level of 2014. Jiji Press