JCP on House of Councilors election results

   The Standing Executive Committee of the Japanese Communist Party Central Committee on July 30 issued the following statement on the results of the House of Councilors election:

1.  In the July 29 House of Councilors election, the Japanese Communist Party won 3 seats in the national proportional representation constituency, a decrease of one from the number that were up for re-election, but the JCP maintained its position by receiving about 4.4 million votes (7.48 percent of the total votes cast), up from the 2004 and 2001 Upper House elections.

   In the prefectural constituency elections, the JCP failed to win seats. However, in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and some other prefectural constituencies, the JCP received larger numbers of votes than in the previous election.

   We express deep gratitude to so many voters for voting for the JCP, and to all JCP supporters, in particular members of the JCP supporters association as well as JCP members, who braved winds, rain, or heat waves to campaign hard for the JCP.

2.  The Liberal Democratic Party in this election decreased the number of its seat by 27 seats that were up for re-election. The Komei Party, which had been proud of its ‘invincibility,’ lost four incumbent seats. This shows how severe the voters’ verdict was regarding the Abe Cabinet and on the ruling LDP and Komei.

   Clearly, the voters have judged that the political framework of the LDP-Komei coalition never provides the public with a promising future. This is not just a reflection of failures or misconduct by individual cabinet members, including the prime minister, and the mismanaging of the pension accounts. Public criticism was directed at the 10 months of the Abe Cabinet policies that have exacerbated poverty and widened the gap between poor and rich in the country while following a foreign policy line that insists that Japan’s past war of aggression was a just war.

   The debacle of the Abe Cabinet, which calls for constitutional revision on top of its election platform, has dealt a heavy blow to the rightist pro-Yasukuni forces advocating Japan’s ‘departure from postwar regime’.

   We are convinced that the JCP played its part in bringing about the popular verdict on the LDP-Komei government policies by presenting itself as a reliable opposition party capable of confronting the undemocratic policies of the ruling coalition.

  On all issues, including the pension schemes, welfare services, the residential and consumption taxes, poverty, political corruption, and constitutional revision, the JCP took active part in political debates while exposing scandals through in-depth investigations. Thus, the JCP played a significant role in exposing undemocratic government policies.

3.  The popular verdict on the LDP-Komei coalition in this election suggests the advent of a new era in which a new political process is starting with voters seeking a political change as an alternative to the existing one. However, this does not mean that the public has made clear its stance on alternative politics to the existing politics. In the Diet as well as in parliamentary elections, an in-depth discussion over a new course of politics is called for in response to the needs of the people.

   In the coming era of political turmoil, the role of the JCP will be more important than ever. Well aware of this, the JCP will make every possible effort inside and outside of the Diet to realize the JCP’s election promises. The JCP will endeavor to strengthen its ranks, politically, theoretically, and organizationally, in order to be able to take initiatives to respond to any political needs that may arise.

   The JCP, as a party of genuine political reform and a builder of a new structure of politics, will make a major advance in the next national elections.

- Akahata, July 31, 2007