Minamisoma mayor re-elected

January 20, 2014

Famous anti-nuclear mayor in Fukushima Pref. wins re-election

Katsunobu Sakurai

拡大写真

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140120p2a00m0na008000c.html

MINAMISOMA, Fukushima -- Minamisoma Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai was re-elected Jan. 19, capitalizing on his campaign against nuclear power which drew global sympathy and attention in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Sakurai, 58, collected 17,123 votes to win the mayoral election for a second four-year term, compared with 10,985 votes for former Mayor Issei Watanabe, 70, and 5,367 for former head of the city assembly Motoe Yokoyama, 65.

Sakurai's re-election victory over his two rivals with close ties to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is certain to put pressure on the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to change its policy to restart idled nuclear reactors in Japan. Nuclear power is also expected to become a focal point of the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial election.

Whether to end nuclear power generation and whether idled nuclear reactors should be reactivated or not are also likely to become hot issues in a growing number of elections, even among municipalities that don't host nuclear power plants.

When initial reports about Sakurai's probable win reached his office in the city's Haramachi district, a beaming Sakurai said the electoral result represented the voters' sound judgment. ''I am aspiring to realize a nuclear-free society and build a Minamisoma that we can boast about to the world,'' he said, drawing big applause and cheers from about 200 supporters.

After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, Sakurai turned to the Internet to tell his city's plight to the world and was listed on TIME magazine's 100 most influential people that year.

Sakurai also serves as a facilitator for a council of municipal leaders, including former and current governors, mayors and village chiefs, who have been trying to get rid of nuclear power in Japan. He also played a major role in forcing Tohoku Electric Power Co. in 2013 to cancel the Namie-Odaka nuclear power plant project that was to saddle the town of Namie and Minamisoma's Odaka district. During the mayoral election campaign, he also called for expanding the anti-nuclear council of municipal leaders, challenging his two rivals who expressed their support for restarting nuclear reactors in other prefectures.

In Fukushima Prefecture, six incumbent mayors and village chiefs have failed in their re-election bids in the current fiscal year due to protracted reconstruction efforts. Sakurai won re-election partly because his two rivals failed to unite and settle on a single candidacy. During the election campaign, Sakurai tried to dodge criticism over slow restoration work, saying the number of residents in Minamisoma has risen to 52,000 from less than 10,000 at one point due to mass evacuations.

Sakurai's victory has buoyed the spirits of members of the anti-nuclear council of municipal leaders. Former Tokaimura village chief Tatsuya Murakami in Ibaraki Prefecture said Sakurai's re-election victory would make it difficult for the Abe government to restart nuclear reactors without any debate. He also said the victory would strengthen the hands of the anti-nuclear force in the Tokyo gubernatorial election and proposed fielding a unified anti-nuclear candidate.

Kosai Mayor Hajime Mikami in Shizuoka Prefecture said voters have the final say in the nation's energy policy. He said the anti-nuclear movement should also be a focal point in municipalities that do not host nuclear facilities.