Ex-boxer Hakamata set to vote for the first time in decades

Efforts are being made to restore the right to vote of Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-held death row prisoner, who has been exonerated over a 1966 murder case, for the first time in 44 years to allow him to cast his ballot in the Oct. 27 Lower House election.

When Hideko Hakamata, his older sister, checked with the election committee in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, last week, an official told her that it has started preparations toward allowing the 88-year-old former boxer to vote in the election, his lawyer Hideyo Ogawa said Tuesday.

“Hideko is eager to take him to the polling station, which she has been aiming to do since her brother was freed (in 2014),” Ogawa said.