Ruling coalition-backed rookie beats antibase incumbent in Nago mayoral election
Jiji -- Feb 05
Ruling camp-backed rookie Taketoyo Toguchi defeated incumbent Susumu Inamine in a mayoral election in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday.

In the one-for-one contest, Toguchi, a 56-year-old former member of the Nago city assembly, garnered 20,389 votes and the 72-year-old incumbent 16,931 votes.

Voter turnout came to 76.92 pct, up 0.21 percentage point from the previous mayoral election. A record 21,660 people, about 44 pct of the eligible voters in the city, had cast ballots before Sunday.

It was the first mayor's race in Nago since the central government started in April last year seawall construction off the coastline of the city's Henoko district for the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan, also in the southernmost Japan prefecture.

Backed by Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, Inamine called on voters to help him win his third term to stop the base relocation. He also won support from five opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party.

アメリカ軍普天間基地の移設問題を争点とした沖縄県名護市長選挙は自民、公明、維新が推す新人の渡具知武豊氏が初当選を飾りました。
News sources: Jiji, ANNnewsCH