Like-minded parties -- Akahata 'Current' column, January 8

Kan Naoto visited Ise Shrine. That was his second since last year as the president of the Democratic Party of Japan.

This Shinto shrine is dedicated to the sun goddess who is considered to be the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family. Does Kan think it essential for a politician guiding the people to visit it?

When he met the press following the shrine visit, he stated, "We will develop an argument calling for a new constitution."

An Ise Shrine visitor and advocate of a constitutional revision, the DPJ is the LDP with a different name.

The DPJ president could have used his New Year visit to the shrine to cleanse his party from corruption caused by DPJ members' illegal election campaigning. He apparently had no such intention of doing so. Since a series of electoral violations by DPJ candidates were exposed in connection with the 2003 House of Representatives election, Kan has insisted that they were wrongly arrested and accused the law enforcement authorities for using "stretched interpretations of the law".

He is referring to a case involving two candidates elected from Miyagi No.1 and No.2 constituencies. Leaders of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) trade unions allegedly asked NTT-affiliated firms to ask voters to support them by telephone for several hundred thousand yen. The prosecutors say this kind of operation is illegal and that making calls to ask for support for a particular candidate must be a voluntary act.

NTT Solco, an NTT-affiliate, specializes in market research and client-recruiting activities. The company uses its strong assets to make phone calls and gather customer information. The election campaign staff for the two DPJ Dietmembers is marked by a combination of union-led tactics brought in by former Social Democratic Party members and the LDP-style company-led campaign tactics.

In the past, violating the election law was LDP policy. An LDP Dietmember was recently arrested on charges of funneling tax money the LDP received in public subsidy for vote-buying.

All this shows that the DPJ and the LDP are like-minded parties in the sense that both accept donations from business circles and that both have many violators of the election law working for them. (end)