April 11, 1999

Kiyoshi SASAMORI
General Secretary
Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO)

Today, the result of the governor of Tokyo Prefecture election in 14th united regional election was announced.

Rengo considered this election a first step toward empowering the national administration with regional voices.

With this election, Rengo tried to increase the regional political power based on the people and workers to build an energetic regional society for the 21st century.

In the next Lower House election, Rengo will support to replace the governing party, to answer the hopes of working people for two major parties centered by the Democratic Party.

We have supported candidate, Kunio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party, because the election of the governor of Tokyo prefecture was very important for the capital and has a big influence on the national administration.

Both headquarters and the Tokyo branch of Rengo sponsored 'communication assembly for the election of the governor of Tokyo'. We had supported this election to actualize Rengo's policies and also because this election would effect the life of the working people and the consumers.

We had fully supported the campaign with close contact with the Democratic party, Rengo Tokyo branch, and other organizations. Our campaign was summed up in the phrase, 'Tokyo Will Change Japan.'

Unfortunately, our candidate did not win. However, he fought well and earned more votes than predicted by public-opinion polls at the beginning of the campaign.

We are thrown into confusion now. Japan is facing an economic crisis, which was an important topic during this election. Japan is suffering from its worst post-war recession and more than 3 million are unemployed. The working people have a very unstable life facing the anxiety of the lay-offs because of bankruptcies and downsizing. Rengo has to solve those problems to ease people's anxieties and to build a stable and trustable Japan.

The results of the election reflect the wish of the people to rebuff the Liberal Democratic Party, which can not solve the current problems. Rengo will work to replace the ruling government with the Democratic Party and build up Rengo's political base.

Finally, I would like to thank the union members who had supported this campaign bravely and the voters who supported Rengo's efforts.