May 29, 2018

The Civil Alliance on May 28 held exchanges of views for the first time in about five months with the anti-Abe opposition force, including the Japanese Communist Party, in the Diet building to further strengthen cooperation ahead of next year's Upper House election.

The Civil Alliance invited the Democratic Party for the People, which was formed earlier this month after a merger of the former Democratic Party and the former Party of Hope, to the meeting. The newly-inaugurated party, however, did not attend the meeting because, they said, how they deal with other parties and the Civil Alliance was still under discussion.

Aspiring for the abrogation of the national security-related legislation and for the recovery of constitutionalism, the Civil Alliance requested that opposition parties work together to keep confronting the undemocratic Abe regime over allegations such as alteration of official documents, coverups, and fabrication of official data.

The group of concerned citizens also requested that the opposition parties make their utmost efforts to achieve a victory of Ikeda Chikako, the candidate hoping to succeed antinuclear-power ex-Niigata governor, in the Niigata gubernatorial election slated for June 10.

Hosei University Professor Yamguchi Jiro, a member of the Civil Alliance, said that in order to bring down the Abe government "all opposition parties should unite to overcome the present crisis in the nation's democracy and discuss policies with each other with a perspective of forming a coalition government in the future." He also said, "It is necessary for the opposition force to present a clear vision for the future as a viable option to replace the Abe government."

JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira in response said, "The need now is for the opposition parties to consult with each other to confirm the policies they have in common. We'd like to bounce ideas off of you as well."

Koike continued to say that the JCP will work hard for a victory in the Niigata gubernatorial election for the time being and added, "With one year to go until the Upper House race, opposition parties must get over present difficulties through policy discussions in order to fight as an united front in the next national election."

Past related article:
> JCP urges 4 opposition parties to start discussing policies and candidates for 2019 Upper House race [January 11, 2018]
> JCP agrees on opposition to Article 9 revision with CDPJ [November 3, 2017]
> Civil Alliance confirms common election agenda in preparation for selecting united opposition candidates [September 27, 2017]
> Civil Alliance and opposition parties will cooperate on issues surrounding ‘conspiracy bill’ and ‘Moritomo’ scandal [April 6, 2017]