Japan Press Weekly

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2023 August 9 - 15 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Civil Alliance to JCP: for policies which fully put into practice Article 9 and 13 of the Constitution

The Civil Alliance on August 10 met with Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in the Diet building and handed him a written request calling on the party to realize policies which put into practice Article 9 and Article 13 of the Constitution in cooperation with concerned citizens and other constitutional opposition parties.

JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira and JCP Policy Commission Chair Tamura Tomoko were also present at the meeting.

Nakano Koichi, a representative of the Civil Alliance, said, "Article 9 and Article 13 of the Constitution constitute the foundation of 'constitutionalism'," adding, "The Civil Alliance hopes that anti-constitutional revision opposition parties will work together since they share the same resolve to keep Japan a peaceful nation.

In support of the Civil Alliance request, Shii responded, "Disagreements exist among opposition parties but the JCP will make every effort to reestablish an opposition alliance.” Admiring the Civil Alliance role in forming the joint struggle setup, he stressed the need to rebuff the propaganda, "Opposition parties' electoral cooperation in the 2021 general election ended in failure."

Shii said that opposition parties that united in the 2021 general election agreed on a 20-item common agenda and also agreed to establish a new government through collaboration. Based on these agreements, opposition parties fielded a joint opposition candidate in many single-seat constituencies and, as a result, won a victory in 59 electoral districts. He added, "The JCP will think hard to come up with ways to raise expectations for a united effort by opposition parties with concerned citizens to succeed."

Nakano said, "We don't think that the opposition parties-citizens cooperation in the 2021 general election was a failure." At the same time, he said, "In parallel with your efforts to restore opposition parties' cooperation, we'd also like you to focus on making widely known its own unique message to the general public" so that opposition parties abiding by the Constitution can increase not only their single-seat constituency seats but also proportional representation seats.

Past related articles:
> JCP agrees with CDPJ to form limited non-cabinet alliance [October 1, 2021]
> 4 opposition parties along with Civil Alliance agree on common agenda [September 9, 2021]