Japan Press Weekly

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2012 September 5 - 11 [JCP]

JCP Shii calls for major advance in next general election

At a general meeting of Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers on September 7, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo looked back on JCP activities during the last session of the Diet and called on all JCP lawmakers to work harder to achieve a major advance in the next general election.

In the last ordinary session of the Diet which adjourned on September 8, two bills were abandoned: the Diet seat reduction bill which the Democratic Party of Japan forced through the Lower House; and the special bill to issue deficit-covering bonds to finance public works and to maintain tax breaks for the wealthy and for large corporations.

Concerning public movements opposing a consumption tax hike, nuclear power generation, the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, and the Osprey deployment, Shii said that the JCP played an important role in these movements.

The JCP contributed to the movements by making it clear that in order to reach the goals these movements are striving to attain, it is important to bring an end to the very structure of politics that work in the interests of the United States and Japanese business circles, he stated.

Regarding the consumption tax hike bill, the main focus of the ordinary session, the JCP proposed to the opposition parties to work together in a joint struggle based on common ground of opposing the bill.

The JCP together with six other opposition parties proposed a vote of no-confidence against the Noda Cabinet in the Lower House, and managed to pass a censure motion against the prime minister through the Upper House. These were noteworthy achievements, Shii stressed.

In order to achieve a major advance in the coming general election, he called on the participants to spread the JCP’s vision to change the form of politics subservient to business circles and to the U.S.

Shii called for further efforts to attract public attention to the JCP working hard for a political change based on its Party Program in cooperation with the general public at the grass roots level.