Campaigning for the Nov. 17 Okinawa gubernatorial election officially got under way Thursday as three candidates filed to run against incumbent Keiichi Inamine.
In addition to Inamine, 69, who is seeking a second four-year term, former Vice Gov. Masanori Yoshimoto, 65, Shigenobu Arakaki, 60, and Mitsuo Matayoshi, 58, registered their candidacies, a local administration commission said.
The main issues of the campaign are likely to revolve around the U.S. military bases in the prefecture and Okinawa's economic woes.
The relocation of the helicopter base at the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan to a military-civilian airport that the central government hopes to have built off Nago is a particularly important issue.