Tamaki Determined to Run in Okinawa Election

August 29, 2018

Tokyo- House of Representatives lawmaker Denny Tamaki said Tuesday he is determined to run in the Sept. 30 Okinawa gubernatorial election following the recent death of Governor Takeshi Onaga.

At a news conference, Tamaki, secretary-general of the opposition Liberal Party, said he will announce his candidacy in Naha, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, Wednesday.

Tamaki, 58, has been asked to run by the so-called All Okinawa camp opposing the planned construction of a new military base in the Henoko coastal area of Nago, Okinawa, for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan, also Okinawa.

Ahead of the news conference, Tamaki and party head Ichiro Ozawa visited leaders of other opposition parties to ask for support.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Yukio Edano said Tamaki should be the "top candidate." Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii and Social Democratic Party chief Seiji Mataichi promised full support.

Meanwhile, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party confirmed at an executive meeting that it will make all-out efforts to back former Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima, 54, who has already decided to run.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the party's president, said the LDP will remain steadfast in support of Sakima.

LDP executives including Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai instructed party members in the House of Councillors to use their influence so that Sakima can win 350,000 votes in the election, near the number Onaga achieved when he was elected Okinawa governor in 2014. Jiji Press