1998 Volume 53 Issue 1 Pages 44-60
In local election, most candidates get votes from their home district. This is called "friends and neighbours effect" or "local effect" in electoral geography. But candidates of citizen groups, as one of the new political movements, perform election activities and get votes across large area, becase they are supported by the network of various people beyond existing community power structure. The candidates of organized party, the Japan Communist Party and the Komeito, build strong relationships to his/her neighbours, in the process of strategic assignment of party members' votes to them. This paper surveys the relationship between candidates of citizen groups/the Japan Communist Party and his/her home district in Amagasaki city council election, 1997. In this election, four candidates of citizen groups claimed whole municipal issue, council reforming, as in the last election (1993). They not only maintained and newly constructed broad network of citizens, but this tme they also did locally-oriented election activities. There were two reasons why they regarded each home district as importnat. i) Three of them who had won the last election build relationship to their neighbours during their term of office, and ii) many voters wanted their local representatives because of the influence of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthequake (1995) etc. However the candidates' attitude toward home district and their spatial spheres of election activities varied considerably. These factors affected each scope of votes and even the electoral results. This paper illustrates the assigned zones of the Japan Communist Party. These zones determined the spheres of votes of the candidates and enabled them to get solid votes. Additionally, in the official gazette for election, the candidates promised to consider local interests to the neighbours of their own zones.
