Japan Press Weekly

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2008 December 3 - 9 [POLITICS]

JCP Ichida says Aso Cabinet is at dead end

At a news conference on December 8, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi commented on the support rates for Prime Minister Aso Taro’s cabinet falling to below 30 percent.

Mainstream media, including NHK and Kyodo News, published their surveys on December 8.

Ichida said, “These figures show clearly that the Aso government and the Liberal Democratic Party-led politics are at an impasse.”

Referring to the fact that about 30,000 more contingent workers will likely lose their jobs this year, Ichida said, “People’s livelihoods and the national economy have never been worse off than they are today.”

Despite this crisis, the Aso government has not only failed to work out effective economic measures but also caused fierce public opposition to the two-trillion yen cash handouts at the core of its policy for economic recovery, Ichida pointed out.

He stated that a series of Aso’s gaffes such as, “There are many doctors who lack common sense,” or “Why should I pay medical costs for other elderly people who aimlessly eat, drink, and make no efforts to keep their good health?” have also contributed to the sharp decline in cabinet support rates.

The LDP in the first place put up Aso as an ace relief pitcher but never tried to move away from its dog-eat-dog economic policy to one of stimulating the household economy and public well-being. “This is shown in all the survey results,” Ichida said.

Furthermore, commenting on a survey in which 54 percent of respondents said, “Neither Aso nor Ozawa Ichiro (President of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan) is a good choice as prime minister,” Ichida said “This is because DPJ policies are not very different from those of the present LDP-Komei coalition government. People know that the DPJ is not going after Diet deliberations to corner the LDP-Komei coalition.”

He expressed the JCP determination to proactively engage in Diet debates and join hands with people’s movements in order to make clear to the public the points at issue and to force the government to dissolve the Lower House for a general election.