July 12, 2019

The Liberal Democratic Party’s campaign broadcast message for the July 21 House of Councilors election unjustly attacks opposition parties and boasts about its achievements by using deceptive tactics.

Political parties that run candidates in a national election are given an opportunity to explain their policies on TV and radio at public expense.

The LDP in its election broadcast insists that opposition parties are looking for faults in the public pension system just in order to condemn the government policy. The LDP claims that opposition parties neglect to present concrete proposals for pension reform. This claim does not stand up to the facts.

The Japanese Communist Party has made a proposal calling for abolishing the “macroeconomic slide system” which is designed to automatically reduce pension benefits. The party has also presented a measure to secure funds necessary to make the public pension system more sustainable without the macroeconomic slide system.

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in the LDP election broadcast asserts that his economic policies have brought about the largest wage increases in this century. However, data regarding workers’ wages which Abe cites to support his assertion shows exaggerated assertions and is misleading for two reasons: it is about nominal wages and it includes regular annual pay raises attributable to seniority.

In reality, real wages that workers earn are annually 100,000 yen less per year, and household consumption is 250,000 yen less compared to 2014 when the Abe government raised the consumption tax rate to 8%. By presenting these facts, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo in a Diet committee meeting in February urged PM Abe to admit that Abe’s economic policies are not working, but Abe made no response.

Concerning the planned consumption tax hike to 10% in October, the LDP election broadcast avoids mentioning any of the adverse effects that will have on the economy. Given that the Japanese economy has yet to fully recover from the negative effects caused by the 2014 consumption tax rate increase to 8%, the additional increase to 10% will be devastating. The LDP should stop using the public election broadcast system to mislead the voters.