Significance of Local Elections

* Written by Yoichi TAKAHASHI, PPPC Chairman / Kaetsu University Professor 

 Local Elections will likely be the focus of great interests in 2014

as there is no major national-level election this year. The mayoral

election of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, which was just held on January

19, as well as the February 9 Tokyo gubernatorial race and the

February 23 Yamaguchi gubernatorial election have attracted great

interests so far.

 In Nago, incumbent Susumu Inamine, who opposes the Japan-U.S. plan to

relocate the U.S. Marines Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan, also

in the prefecture, to Nago, was re-elected despite the central

government’s support for another candidate.

 In Tokyo, former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa announced candidacy

with support of another anti-nuclear former Prime Minister Junichiro

Koizumi. The Tokyo governor’s race will likely be between Hosokawa

and LDP-supported Yoichi Masuzoe, former health and labor minister. As

Masuzoe has voiced his no-nuclear stance in the past, the focal point

will be whether to suspend operation of the nuclear reactors

immediately, or in other words, the room for restarting the country’s

nuclear power plants.

 Similarly in the Yamaguchi gubernatorial election, it is also the

nuclear issue that will likely be the focal point of the race. This is

because Tetsunari Iida, the vanguard of no-nuke movements, will run

for the election, although a former bureaucrat Muraoka announced to

join the race as expert of local administration.

 However, both the policy issues that have been the focal point of

election are the realm of the central government and there is little

thing that local leaders can do about these policies.

 On relocation of the U.S. base, the authority to permit the landfill

application (to pave additional aircraft runways) is in hands of the

Okinawa prefectural governor, and it is in the central government’s

responsibility that the actual work is to be implemented. The mayor’s

authority is no more than giving permission on usage of roads or

fishing ports, whose excessive application may cause criticisms as

misuse of mayoral power.

 Similarly, with regard to restarting of nuclear power plants, while

the applications for restarting 16 reactors in 9 plants have been

submitted by 7 power companies, it is the Nuclear Regulatory Authority

which examines the applications, and it is only afterward that there

is a process of obtaining consents of the relevant local governments.

While the applications include the ones for 6th and 7th reactors in

Niigata Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plants of Tokyo Electric

Power Co., there is nothing that Tokyo governor can do but to pressure

Niigata prefectural governor not to agree with decisions to restart

these reactors. While it also includes reactor 2 of the Shimane

nuclear power plant, it is a matter of Shimane governor.

 Even if candidates get elected with campaign pledges irrelevant to

authority of the office, that influence is no more than that of a

critique and it is only up to the central government whether the

pledge is to be maintained. It is a bit pity that achievements of

campaign pledges to change policies finally depend on the central

government despite public supports in the local elections.

 It may be difficult to let local governments to decide such policy

issues as relocation of the U.S. base as it is the matter of national

security. However, since the electricity issue can be solved in a

regional level, there is a possibility that the nuclear power issue

can be debated in the local elections if there is an institution

equivalent with Doshusei (regional governments). Precisely the service

areas of each power company correspond with the areas that should be

covered by Doshu governments.

 In any case, there is a fact that backgrounds of 46 prefectural

governors excluding Tokyo are heavily balanced toward former

bureaucrats; perhaps a vivid reflection of the current state that

decentralization has not been accomplished in this country. Among the

46 governors, 25 are former central government officials, while 8 are

from the Diet members, 2 from local politics, 5 from local 

administration, 6 from academic or private sector.