Japan Press Weekly

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2011 August 3 - 16 [POLITICS]

Agreement between DPJ, LDP and Komei is de facto grand coalition: JCP Kokuta

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan on August 9 agreed with the two largest oppositions Liberal Democratic and Komei parties to revise its key election promises made in the 2009 House of Representatives general election.

The DPJ concluded the agreement in order to enact the government-submitted bill to issue debt-covering bonds during the current ordinary session of the Diet.

Asked by reporters to comment on the agreement, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji said that the agreement shows that “the three parties have virtually formed a grand coalition.”

Kokuta added, “It is unforgivable that the three parties discussed crucial issues behind closed doors under the guise of holding three party talks. Such a move undermines and taunts the integrity of the Diet.”

With the agreement, the DPJ will cancel its most crucial pledge to provide an allowance to households with children aged 15 and under. It will make changes in tuition-free high school education and income compensation for individual family farmers from 2012. It will also stop seeking budget allocations to introduce toll-free expressways in FY 2012.

In the 2009 election, voters gave a boost to the DPJ’s promises to provide a child allowance and make high schools tuition-free with a strong wish to put an end to the LDP and the Komei policies which led to an increase in poverty and social disparities.

However, as ways to pass the deficit-covering bill, the DPJ bowed to the demands of LDP, which was driven from office, and abandoned such important promises. This shows that the DPJ places more importance on its party interests than maintaining public trust.

The three parties also agreed that they alone will decide on a way to secure financial resources to fund post-disaster reconstruction projects.