Japan Press Weekly

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2021 October 27 - November 2 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Opposition parties’ collaboration exerts some influence in general election: Shii

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on November 1 held a press conference at the JCP head office in Tokyo and commented on the results of the October 31 House of Representatives general election.

Shii at first expressed his thanks to voters’ support for the JCP as well as to supporters, supporters’ association members, and party members for their hard work campaigning under the COVID-19 situation.

Shii then talked about opposition parties’ electoral cooperation. In the general election campaign, the JCP appealed for changing the government through opposition parties’ unified efforts.

Shii said, “Although this attempt stopped short of achieving success in this general election, as the first attempt, it is of historical significance.”

Shii pointed out that the teaming up of opposition parties based on agreements on common policies and government cooperation exerted a degree of influence as evidenced by the victories of joint opposition candidates in 62 of 214 single-seat constituencies against Liberal Democratic Party candidates including the party’s heavyweights.

Meanwhile, as an important issue to be resolved, Shii pointed out that the opposition bloc failed to convince the electorate of the good cause and advantages of opposition parties’ electoral cooperation. He said that this helped the LDP-Komei supplementary force, “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party gain a number of seats.

Stressing that opposition parties’ collaboration is the most effective way to change Japan’s political course, Shii expressed his determination to continue working hard for stable development of opposition parties’ joint efforts. Furthermore, he said that the party will discuss with other opposition parties and concerned citizens based on lessons learnt from the latest general election and will make the utmost effort to further develop the opposition party/citizens collaboration.

Talking about the decrease in the number of JCP seats from 12 to 10, Shii stressed the need to build a more powerful party. At the same time, Shii said that among four issues which the party focused on during its election campaign, the JCP policies on the fight against climate change and the creation of a gender equal society attracted much attention from a wide range of voters, especially from young voters. He said that the party will place more importance on these two issues in its efforts to succeed in future national elections and in helping to strengthen people’s movement.