Japan Press Weekly

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2015 October 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

Shii in press conference: favorable public response to JCP proposal could lead to major change

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on October 19, the one-month mark following the forcible enactment of war legislation, held a press conference at the JCP head office in Tokyo and expressed his firm determination to make every effort to overthrow the Abe government and establish a “national coalition government to repeal the war legislation”.

Shii pointed out that although the government led by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is taking a deceptive stance to put emphasis on economic policies as a tactic to dampen public anger in regard to the railroading through of the controversial legislation, people’s movements against the war legislation is expanding.

Noting that under such a situation, the JCP proposal for the establishment of a “national coalition government to repeal the war legislation” is gaining public support, the JCP chair stressed, “This favorable trend seems to be generating great waves calling for action.”

A TV Asahi opinion poll which was published on the same day indicated that in response to a question about opposition parties’ electoral cooperation in the House of Councilors election scheduled for next summer, 44% of the respondents expressed their expectation for the cooperation while 44% gave a negative response.

At the night of the same day, actions calling for the revocation of the war legislation and a change in the Abe government took place across Japan. This was the first monthly “19th Day” of action called for by a united group of civic organizations and individuals against the war legislation.

At a rally held in front of the Diet building, 9,500 people raised their voices in protest. Opposition party parliamentarians and representatives of various citizens’ organizations delivered solidarity speeches.

JCP Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki in his speech said, “In order to create a new government in collaboration with the general public, the JCP will keep holding serious and sincere discussions with other opposition parties.” The participants gave him a warm round of applause.

Past related article:
> Citizens in rally resolve to obtain 20 million signatures to repeal war laws [ October 9, 2015]