opposition

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Japan now needs an opposition party: Shii at TV news show

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo on July 23 spoke on various political issues from the Constitution to a "two-party system" on an Asahi Newstar TV show.

Asked by an interviewer how the JCP sees the present political situation when the JCP voice is out of reach of the public because the two major parties are treated as the main players by the media, Shii took up the issue of the Constitution as a question that has important bearings on the country's future.

Shii said, "Both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan are in the same boat trying to revise Article 9, Paragraph 2, to make the Self-Defense Forces constitutional. But constitutional revisions require a national referendum in the end. It's possible to develop a national movement to stop them even if the LDP and the DPJ maintain their parliamentary majority."

Regarding the proposal to increase taxes on salaried workers, Shii pointed out that behind this plan is business circles' attempt to have the corporate tax rate lowered by shifting the burden onto working people.

Regarding how to put brakes on the rise of a two-party system in elections, Shii said, "The JCP is calling for the abolition of the single-seat constituency system that throws away the votes for smaller parties, preventing the popular will from being heard in the Diet. The introduction of this election system was a major adverse change in politics in Japan."

Shii said, "The JCP must devise ways to appeal to the people even under such a disadvantageous system," adding that the JCP will make every effort to increase the number of votes for the JCP in proportional representations elections as well as in the single-seat constituencies.

"Are we to leave our future to the LDP and the DPJ which are calling for constitutional revisions and heavier taxes on people? The JCP will actively appeal to the public that Japan now needs an opposition party in the real sense of the term." -- Akahata, July 25, 2005