自公系元職が当選　知事派新人破る―沖縄・宜野湾市長選

　米軍普天間飛行場を抱える沖縄県宜野湾市の市長選が８日投開票され、無所属元職の佐喜真淳氏（６０）＝自民、公明推薦＝が、いずれも無所属新人で元市議の桃原功氏（６５）＝立民、共産、社民推薦、会社代表の比嘉隆氏（４７）を破り、当選した。投票率は５３．２７％で、前回（６３．４９％）を下回った。
　市長だった松川正則氏の死去に伴う選挙。普天間飛行場の名護市辺野古移設を巡って、移設を容認する自公系の佐喜真氏と、反対する政治勢力「オール沖縄」から支援を受ける桃原氏の事実上の一騎打ちとなっていた。（2024/09/08-23:09）

Atsushi Sakima, a candidate backed by Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, has won a mayoral election in Ginowan in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa.
   In Sunday's election, Sakima, a 60-year-old former Ginowan mayor, defeated Isao Tobaru, a 65-year-old former member of the Ginowan assembly, and corporate representative Takashi Higa, 47. Tobaru was endorsed by three parties in the opposition camp--the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.
   It is the third time that Sakima has won a Ginowan mayoral election.
   The voter turnout was 53.27 pct, down from 63.49 pct in the previous election.
   The latest election took place as former Ginowan mayor Masanori Matsugawa passed away in July, during his tenure, and was a de facto one-on-one battle between Sakima, who supports the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area in Nago, another Okinawa city, and Tobaru, who was backed by the "All Okinawa" camp, which opposes the relocation.