Japan Press Weekly

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2024 May 15 - 21 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Civil Alliance criticizes Rengo for breaking momentum working toward a change in government

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC/Rengo) is opposed to the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) fielding joint candidates put up by concerned citizens together with opposition parties in national elections.

Rengo on May 16 issued a document arguing its position. In the document, the pro-business union group referred to a House of Representatives by-election held in Tokyo’s No.15 district (Koto Ward) at the end of April in which CDPJ candidate Sakai Natsumi won a seat. Pointing out that Sakai received support from the Japanese Communist Party as a joint opposition candidate, Rengo stated that a political party, which works together with Rengo, cooperated with the JCP in the election, which is intolerable.

In reaction to this document, a local Civil Alliance group in Koto Ward published a statement criticizing Rengo for obviously playing a role in hampering the movement toward putting an end to the anti-people LDP politics.

The local Civil Alliance group in its statement pointed out that in the election, it concluded with CDPJ candidate Sakai a policy agreement. It went on to point out that based on the agreement, the Civil Alliance formed a consensus with other opposition parties, including the JCP, on the need to bring down the LDP and made unified efforts to achieve Sakai’s victory. The civil group stated that Rengo holds an unfavorable view of the Civil Alliance’s support for Sakai.

Past related articles:
> JCP-supported candidates win in all 3 Lower House by-elections[April 29, 2024]
> Rengo appears to prioritize serving as impediment to opposition parties’ alliance over protecting workers’ labor rights [December 23, 2023]