Photo/Illutration Satoru Chinen, left, celebrates his victory in the Naha mayoral election, with Mikiko Shiroma, the current mayor, on Oct. 24. (Hiroyuki Yamamoto)

NAHA—Ruling coalition-backed candidate Satoru Chinen won the Naha mayoral election on Oct. 23, dealing a blow to an anti-U.S. military base group that may have previously thought it was in a win-win situation.

Chinen, 59, a former vice mayor of Naha, received 64,165 votes, ahead of his only rival, Takeharu Onaga, 35, who obtained 54,125 votes.

Voter turnout was 47.05 percent in the Okinawa prefectural capital.

Chinen and Onaga were both seeking their first mayoral posts. They also both ran as independents.

But the race ended up representing the struggle over the central government’s plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan in the prefecture to the Henoko district of Nago, also in the prefecture.

After some pre-campaign twists and turns, the Okinawa prefectural chapters of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito supported Chinen in the election.

Onaga was backed by the “All Okinawa” group, led by Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki.

The group, which is vehemently against the Futenma relocation project, includes the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party, Reiwa Shinsengumi, the Social Democratic Party and a local party called Okinawa Shakai Taishu-to.

Chinen’s win could make it even more difficult for Tamaki, who was re-elected in September, to halt the central government’s progress on the military base project.

Chinen served as head of Naha’s public relations department under the city administration of Takeshi Onaga, a conservative mayor who later became a governor supported by All-Okinawa.

The newly elected mayor is also a close ally of current Naha Mayor Mikiko Shiroma, an heir to Onaga and another symbolic figure in the All Okinawa movement. Chinen served as a vice mayor to Shiroma for about eight years.

Takeharu Onaga is the second son of Takeshi Onaga, who died in 2018.

Opponents of the base relocation project may have felt early optimism with both Naha mayoral candidates having strong connections to the All Okinawa movement.

However, Chinen broke away from the group by refraining from even mentioning the Henoko base project in the campaign. Instead, he focused on measures to promote the local economy.

Shiroma’s decision to endorse Chinen’s candidacy just four days before the election officially started potentially fragmented the All Okinawa voting bloc, which decided to throw its weight behind Onaga.

The LDP decided to back Chinen after he agreed with the party that they should respect the “stance” of Nago Mayor Taketoyo Toguchi, who has remained silent on whether he is for or against the relocation project.

Shiroma, who fully supported Tamaki in the September gubernatorial election, said her support for Chinen did not mean that she accepts the Futenma base relocation plan.

“My opposition to the relocation project remains the same, but what a Naha mayor needs is not a political attitude but proper management of the city government,” she said.

Shiroma said the Henoko issue should not be a point of dispute in the Naha mayoral election, and she urged voters to focus on Chinen’s 38 years of administrative experience and his readiness to serve the mayor.

Taro Kono and other LDP figures came to the prefecture and delivered stump speeches for Chinen.

Onaga said he would make the issue of poverty in Okinawa his top priority and turn Naha into the best city in terms of raising children.

But in contrast to Chinen, Onaga kept bringing up the Henoko base project, saying Naha should also be involved in the opposition movement “in order to bring the issue to a national discussion.”

He also criticized Chinen for saying that Henoko has nothing to do with the Naha election.

“That is a grave mistake for a politician in Okinawa,” Onaga said.

After Shiroma sided with Chinen, Tamaki volunteered to lead Onaga’s election support team.

The governor appeared at campaign stops with Onaga and urged voters to support him, but the campaign came up short.

(This article was written by Shogo Mitsuzumi and Mika Kuniyoshi.)

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