Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 9 - 15 [ELECTION]

Say ‘No’ to Hashimoto’s dictatorial rule over Osaka in two local elections: JCP Shii

On November 10, the day the Osaka gubernatorial election was officially announced, Japanese Communist Party-backed candidate Umeda Shoji called on voters to say “No” to Hashimoto Toru’s dictatorial style of politics.

The election for the top position in the prefectural government will be held following the resignation of former governor Hashimoto Toru who is running in the Osaka City mayoral election. Voters will pick the heads of the prefectural and the city governments on November 27.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on the same day visited Osaka to support a street campaign of candidate Umeda backed by the Association for Building a Bright and Democratic Osaka Administration.

In his speech, Shii stressed, “The significance behind the elections for governor and mayor is totally different from past elections. The biggest issue of the elections is whether to allow Hashimoto and his political party, the Osaka Ishin-no Kai (Osaka Restoration Group), to exercise their form of dictatorship over the prefectural and the city administrations or to defend democracy in Osaka.”

Shii explained three reasons for labeling Hashimoto as authoritarian.

The first is that Hashimoto openly shows his intention to install authoritarian rule over the prefecture.

Shii reported that on June 29 at a gathering, Hashimoto said, “The most important thing in the Japanese political world is enabling dictatorship. A strong leadership that can stand up to being criticized as a tyranny is necessary in Japanese politics.” Shii pointed out that in a nation having a Constitution proclaiming democracy, it is unacceptable for Hashimoto to get away with declaring that he will establish a despotic government.

The second is that Hashimoto and the Osaka Ishin-no Kai deny the relevance of parliamentary politics. He actually argues that the prefectural assembly’s role is to pass all of the governor’s proposals by majority vote without any need for discussions.

Hashimoto openly expounds his views on local assemblies, saying, “It is impossible for local assembly members to solve issues through discussions because they have to compete against each other in assembly elections.” Shii criticized Hashimoto as an advocate of dismissing parliamentary politics outright.

The third is that Hashimoto plans to establish a metropolitan Osaka government which will take away authority and revenue sources from Osaka City and create ordinances that will allow the governor to control prefectural personnel with an iron fist and strengthen his political influence over public education.

In the gubernatorial election, Umeda has two rivals, one is a candidate of the Osaka Ishin-no Kai and the other is a candidate who receives support from the Democratic and the Liberal Democratic parties and is willing to follow Hashimoto’s policies.

As for the Osaka mayoral election campaign that will officially start on November 13, after the incumbent mayor announced his candidacy to oppose Hashimoto’s dictatorial style of politics, a JCP-backed candidate withdrew his candidacy in order to keep Hashimoto from winning the race.

After saluting his withdrawal of candidacy, Shii said, “The JCP has opposed the mayor’s adverse policies and will continue to do so. However, in this mayoral election, we will support the incumbent mayor in order to defeat Hashimoto and an imposition of his tyrannical policies.”