Voting Starts in Nago Mayoral Election

February 4, 2018

Nago, Okinawa Pref.- Voting started in a high-profile mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa Pref., on Sunday morning.

The poll will be closed at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. GMT), followed by ballot counting.

In the election, 48,781 voters will choose from incumbent Mayor Susumu Inamine, who opposes the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base in Ginowan, another city in the southernmost Japan prefecture, to the Henoko coastal district of Nago, or the 56-year-old sole contender, Taketoyo Toguchi, who does not oppose the base relocation.

Seeking his third term, Inamine, 72, is backed by most of major opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party. Toguchi is supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, as well as opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai.

The mayoral poll is the first election in the city since the government started in April last year seawall construction off the Henoko coastline to build a Futenma replacement facility.

During the campaign period, both Inamine and Toguchi camps, as well as supporter parties, waged all-out war. "I'll never allow a new base to be built in Henoko," Inamine reiterated. Toguchi vowed to improve life of Nago citizens by obtaining more funds from the central government, while refraining from clarifying his stance on the base issue. Jiji Press