Campaigning starts for Nago assembly election, U.S. base in focus

Official campaigning started Sunday for the Nago city assembly election in Okinawa Prefecture, with the planned construction there of a new U.S. military base -- to facilitate the closure of an existing airfield elsewhere in the prefecture -- high on the agenda.The results of the Sept. 9 vote could affect Okinawa's gubernatorial election on Sept. 30, in which a candidate opposing the base relocation plan is expected to compete against a candidate backed by the central government pushing for the transfer.In the Nago assembly election, there will be 32 candidates for 26 seats on the body. At …READ FULL ARTICLE