Onna voters pick new mayor over incumbent

A challenger won the mayoral election in Onna Village, Sunday.

In the Onna Village mayoral election, the incumbent, 67-year-old Fumiyasu Shikiya was seeking the fourth term in the office and was facing 49-year-old Yoshimi Nagahama, a former Onna Village Assembly member. When the ballot count was finished, Nagahama had won with a wide margin of 1,005 votes getting 3,259 votes against Shikiya’s 2,254.

In his victorious campaign, Nagahama stressed the need for a generational change in the village administration that he said is necessary for successful development of human resources, and introduction of a tourism association to Onna. Regarding the issue of U.S. military bases, Nagahama expressed his support for the stance of the new Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga.

Most of voters obviously agreed. Of the 8, 186 eligible voters, 67.9 percent went to ballots, which is 2 percentage points less than in the previous election.

Nagahama was born in Nakadomari, Onna, in July, 1965, and graduated from the University of the Ryukyus.  He was elected in the Onna Village Assembly in 2006 and served two terms through 2014.

19:19 28 Mar , 2024