In nationwide local elections on April 24, many candidates opposed to nuclear power captured seats in assemblies in areas that host nuclear power plants, a sign that the winds of support may have shifted against the nuclear power industry.
As concern grows over the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident, anti-nuclear candidates ratcheted up their campaigns against nuclear power generation.
Meanwhile, many pro-nuclear energy candidates retained their seats by ducking the issue.
In Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture, where Hokuriku Electric Power Co. operates the Shika nuclear power plant, Kenichi Doshita was elected to the assembly.
Doshita, 56, in 2006 led a group of plaintiffs demanding the suspension of operations of the nuclear power plant in a case at a district court, which they won. However, the plaintiffs lost their lawsuit over the same issue in a Supreme Court ruling last year.
Prior to the election, Doshita said he was worried about emphasizing the nuclear power issue.
During the campaign, however, an elderly person shook his hand and urged him, "Please stop the nuclear power plant operation."
On the stump, he kept repeating, "The claim that nuclear power generation is safe and secure was a lie."
Referring to his victory, Doshita said, "The local people continually voiced anxiety about possible accidents. Now, nuclear administration has entered the review phase."
In the village of Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture, where a nuclear power plant is situated, Yoshimi Takakuwa campaigned against it.
Takakuwa won a seat with only 150 votes, the smallest vote total among those elected to the assembly.
"I talked only about nuclear power plants during the campaign," he said. "Villagers voted for me, an unknown, because they are worried about the nuclear plant."
Takakuwa decided to run only four days before the election campaign started. In Kariwa, which is dubbed a "nuclear plant village," anti-nuclear opponents have never been popular and few people listened to his speeches, he said.
In neighboring Kashiwazaki, where the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is located, pro-nuclear incumbent assemblyman Toshihiko Maruyama, 74, sighed with relief when he heard he had been re-elected to an eighth term.
"I was very worried," he said. "The nuclear power plant was an issue, but it's not the only issue."
During the campaign, however, he did not refer to his support for proposed plans to build two more reactors and to promote a pluthermal project at the plant. Both plans have been put on the back burner for now.
Maruyama even mentioned "scrapping nuclear power generation" in his campaign speech. "We will have to depend on the nuclear power plant for a while, but not forever," he said.
Now that opponents of nuclear power generation appeared as strong as those who promoted it during the prefectural assembly election two weeks ago, candidates considered emphasizing support for nuclear power risky, a senior election committee official said.
Soichi Aizawa, 46, backed by the labor union at Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, avoided campaigning by loudspeaker car or making stump speeches. Instead, he focused on campaigning by postcards and telephones. He came in third.
In a city where more than 10 percent of incomes are related to the nuclear power plant, getting elected has never been easy for anti-nuclear candidates.
Tadao Yabe, 68, re-elected for his seventh term, advocated ending nuclear power generation as soon as possible. Although the response to his campaign speeches did not seem favorable, he garnered 200 more votes than he did in the election four years ago.
"The nuclear power plant did not quite become an issue," he said. "Some citizens feel personal obligations."
In Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, where four reactors are situated, incumbent mayor Kazuharu Kawase, backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, won a fifth term, defeating three newcomers.
"I will do my best, vigorously arguing with the central government about the safe operation of the nuclear power plant," he told voters.
All four contenders in the Tsuruga assembly election supported "coexisting with the nuclear power plant." And in the assembly election, Harumi Kondaiji, 60, who advocates abandoning nuclear power, was re-elected for a fourth term.
Meanwhile, in Tomari, Hokkaido, which hosts the Tomari nuclear power plant, anti-nuclear candidate Masaaki Ito, 59, lost by five votes.
"I could not strike a chord with the voters," Ito said.
