17-03-2025
Controversial candidate draws criticism in Chiba election
Political figure Takashi Tachibana has drawn criticism for his controversial campaign activities in Sunday's gubernatorial election in Chiba Prefecture, in which he ran as a candidate.
Tachibana, leader of the NHK Party political group, said that the purpose of his participation in the poll was not to win the governor post in Chiba Prefecture. He mainly campaigned in Hyogo Prefecture, hundreds of kilometers away.
Recent polls have seen a range of actions that the Public Offices Election Act did not anticipate, leading to increased calls for better regulation.
"People of Chiba, please vote for Takashi Tachibana," he said in a street speech in Amagasaki, Hyogo, on March 10. Except for the apparent token reference to Chiba, his speech was mostly about criticism of harassment allegations against Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito.
Tachibana's campaign activities in Chiba were limited to a street rally in Funabashi on Feb. 27, when the official campaign period began, and a rally in Chiba's namesake capital on March 8.
On Friday, he participated in a protest rally criticizing the Finance Ministry in the Kasumigaseki central government district in Tokyo. He was attacked and injured by an assailant there, leading to the cancellation of his speech in the busy Shibuya district, also in Tokyo, slated for Saturday.
According to the internal affairs ministry, campaigning outside the electoral district does not violate the Public Offices Election Act. However, the Chiba Prefectural Election Commission has received numerous complaints from officials in places such as Hyogo Prefecture regarding Tachibana's activities.
Some questioned why campaign activities were allowed in prefectures other than Chiba, while others asked whether Tachibana's candidacy could not be stopped.
An election board official said, "If the requirements for candidacy are formally met, we have no choice but to accept it."
In the Hyogo gubernatorial election last autumn, Tachibana ran, but he called for voting for Saito, not himself.
Before the Chiba election campaign period, Tachibana said that he would plead for voters to cast ballots for incumbent Gov. Toshihito Kumagai. But he did not put this into practice because Kumagai rejected any support from Tachibana.
"Tachibana stood out most" among the candidates in the Chiba election, said a member of campaign staff for a candidate that was not Tachibana.
Hiroshi Shiratori, political science professor at Hosei University, said he does not think that voters approve campaigning activities in districts other than the places where the elections are held.
But "I think it would be impossible to restrict such activities by revising the law," given freedom of expression, Shiratori added.
