JCP releases election policies

With the House of Councilors election a month away, the Japanese Communist Party published election policies entitled, "Pursue a true reform to correct political distortions and create a Japan that can bring about hope to the people."

The election policy consist of three parts: Six focal points in national politics; Reform of Japan - to be completed in the early stage of the 21st century; and Policies for specific needs.

The Iraq question is listed first in the six focal points. The JCP calls for the military occupation on Iraq to be ended, a U.N.-led assistance in Iraq's reconstruction to be established, and the Self-Defense Forces to be withdrawn immediately.

On the pension issue stated as the second crucial point, the JCP proposes a pension system that provides every pensioner with a minimum of 50,000 yen in a month in order to defend citizens' right to live guaranteed by the Constitution.

At a press conference in the Diet building on June 2, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said that the six focal points are priority issues that will influence citizens' living conditions and Japan's future course.

Ichida pointed out that the root cause of those six problems is the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that is dancing to the tune of large corporations and the U.S. The second part of the published policies proposes how to reform the LDP politics, he said. (end)