Minamimaki mayoral election, 2007

The Japanese village Minamimaki, Nagano held a mayoral election on November 11, 2007. Yukihiko Kikuchi beat the incumbent mayor Yoshito Nakajima.

Candidates

• Yoshito Nakajima, incumbent mayor of Minamimaki.
• Yukihiko Kikuchi, farmer and former city assembly members for the Japanese Communist Party (JCP).

Issues

The main issue was the proposed merger of the village with neighboring Kawakami. In a referendum earlier this year 87 % voted not to merger. Incumbent mayor Yoshito Nakajima supported a merger while Yukihiko Kikuchi of the JCP was against it. Kikuchi also called for a "agriculture revitalization" and criticized what he called "undemocratic policies" of the incumbent mayor.

Results

Yukihiko Kikuchi won the election with 430 more votes than Yoshito Nakajima.

Mayoral election 2007: Minamimaki Village
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent, JCP	Yukihiko Kikuchi	1,337
	Independent	Yoshito Nakajima	907
Turnout			2,296	85.45 %

References

• Results from JanJan (Japanese)
• Japan Press coverage