Naha Mayor Takeshi Onaga announced today that he will run in the Nov. 16 gubernatorial election. The announcement has been widely expected as Onaga has been actively promotion his views opposing the construction of a replacement facility to MCAS Futenma on Camp Schwab in Henoko, Nago.

At a meeting of the Naha City Assembly, Onaga said today, “We can’t stand being forced to host military bases any longer. We should unite and work together to reduce the prefecture’s burden of hosting many U.S. bases.”

He then declared, “I have decided to run for the upcoming gubernatorial election.”

Onaga is a former secretary-general of the LDP’s prefectural chapter. He is expected to gain support from opposition parties in the Okinawa prefectural assembly, such as the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party, as well as from

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