Fuwa calls for clear voter choice in the coming general election
Speaking before an audience of 17,000 at a meeting on October 1 in Tokyo, Fuwa Tetsuzo, JCP Central Committee chair, discussed the main issues in the coming House of Representatives general election.
He said: "The biggest issue in this first general election in the 21st century is: who shows the voters a convincing way of leading Japan and the Japanese people out of the present uncertainties."
"There is an important difference between opposition parties over how to defend peace and livelihood from the ruling parties' attacks," Fuwa added and criticized the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for failing to oppose the Koizumi Cabinet's two dangerous plans. One is to dismantle the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution with the aim of sending Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq at U.S. request and the other to increase the consumption tax rate.
Fuwa said, "The DPJ has begun to draft a Manifesto as part of their preparation to join the government. By doing this, the DPJ has neglected to fulfill its duty as an opposition party confronting the Liberal Democratic Party's misgovernment".
Referring to the DPJ proposal for cutting House of Representatives proportional constituency seats by 80, Fuwa criticized the scheme as aimed at creating the false "two party" system by excluding other opposition parties through reducing the number of proportional representation constituency seats, which can reflect voters' preferences relatively accurately.
Fuwa called on the audience to distinguish these two currents among the opposition parties and help the JCP to move forward at the grassroots level. (end)
