The citizens group “Recall Starts with One Person” launched a petition on Monday with the aim of preventing Yokohama city from proceeding with its IR and casino bid and recalling Mayor Fumiko Hayashi.
The campaign will continue for two months until 5 December with the group needing 490,878 signatures in order to call a referendum on the mayor’s dismissal.
The representative of the recall campaign, Yumiko Hirokoshi, was issued a certificate as the representative of the project from the City Election Commission on Monday morning.
A power of attorney from the representative and the petition books will be sent to previously registered “trustees” by post, and the trustees will then collect signatures in the city’s 18 wards. As of Sunday, 46,492 had signed up since the end of the August to be trustees.
The campaign is calling for the mayor’s dismissal despite being elected in 2017 when she claimed to be undecided in regards to an IR bid. The issue gained attention when Hayashi confirmed the city would bid to develop an IR in August of last year.
Hayashi has indicated that she will not hold a referendum on the bid, with opponents subsequently stating that the only way to prevent a casino is to dismiss the mayor herself.
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