July 12, 2022

The Japanese Communist Party Standing Executive Committee on July 12 issued a statement regarding the results of the House of Councilors election two days earlier. Following is a gist of the statement.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all voters who voted for the JCP in the House of Councilors election, as well as to supporters, supporters’ association members, and party members who worked hard campaigning despite the heat.

In the Tokyo constituency where six seats were contested by 34 candidates, the JCP won the reelection of incumbent candidate Yamazoe Taku. He obtained the largest votes among swing voters, finishing third in the race.

In the proportional representation election, the JCP worked hard to achieve a goal of getting more than 6.5 million or 10% of the total votes and securing five seats. The party received 3.62 million or 6.8% of total vote cast and lost two of its five seats, which was a regrettable outcome.

As factors for this result, we had to admit the party’s weakness in efforts to canvass for votes needed for the JCP victory as well as in party building efforts. Regarding the party strength, the party membership decreased by 7.5% from what we had at the time of the 2019 Upper House election. In addition, the Akahata readership fell by 8% for daily Ahakata and 8.6% for Sunday Akahata.

Prime Minister Kishida, commenting on the election results, expressed his intent to initiate a constitutional amendment as soon as possible. We need to launch a struggle to develop a national movement on the single issue of defending Article 9 in order to have a majority of the general public oppose constitutional revision.

We call on all party members to spearhead a grass-roots movement that will help realize people’s demands in various fields and to build a stronger JCP both in quality and in quantity for a major advance in future elections.