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2013 July 3 - 9 TOP3 [ELECTION]

Which party is capable of meeting public demands in Upper House election?

Akahata editorial

The first House of Councilors election since the inauguration of the Abe Cabinet kicked off on July 4. The public has urgent concerns over various topics, such as economy and employment, social security services, the consumption tax increase, post-disaster reconstruction and nuclear power generation, and Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. U.S. military bases in Okinawa and the Abe Cabinet’s rapid move toward constitutional revision are also major election issues. Political party leaders’ kick-off speeches made on the first day of their election campaigns illustrated which party is capable of properly responding to citizens’ voices.

JCP calls for four changes

It is no doubt that party leaders are all sensitive to public concerns, as Liberal Democratic Party President Abe Shinzo made his first election speech in Fukushima affected by the 3.11 disaster and subsequent nuclear accident, LDP Secretary General Ishiba Shigeru in Okinawa, and Democratic Party of Japan President Kaieda Banri in disaster-hit Iwate. However, the contents of their speeches were not even close to what voters demand. Both Abe and Ishiba avoided making clear their position on nuclear energy and the “relocation” of the U.S. Futenma base in Okinawa, the two issues creating disagreement among LDP lawmakers.

It has been six months since the Abe Cabinet was inaugurated. An increasing number of citizens are criticizing the “Abenomics” economic policy for only raising prices and not helping improve their living conditions. Public anxiety is also growing about the government’s move to restart nuclear power reactors, export nuclear power generation technology, and get the Constitution revised. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and Komei Party representative Yamaguchi Natsuo stress the supposed benefits of the “Abenomics” policy and refrain from clarifying their position on other issues because they are afraid of attracting public criticism. They have no intent to sincerely respond to citizens’ concerns.

In contrast, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo decisively demonstrated his confrontational stance toward the LDP and presented ways to reverse LDP policies. Calling for the need to put an end to “Abenomics” which is going ahead with the destruction of the labor market and the plan to increase the consumption tax rate, he proposed four changes: the first one will bring about an economic recovery driven by the expansion of domestic demand with the use of a small portion of corporate internal reserves to increase people’s wages and create stable jobs; the second change will have the country immediately move forward toward a zero-nuclear Japan and renewable sources of energy by breaking away from the present policy to reactivate nuclear power generation and export nuclear power plants amid the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant; the next one will make the best use of the Constitution in politics and stop neglecting the spirit of the country’s supreme law; and Japan will say no to the U.S. administration and tell it that the relocation of its Marines Futenma base to Okinawa’s Henoko district should be given up and that Japan will not join the TPP multilateral free-trade agreement as it threatens Japan’s agriculture, universal healthcare system, and food security. These four policy shifts would fundamentally reverse the anti-people policies in place.

Meanwhile, DPJ President Kaieda voiced concern about the negative effects of Abenomics, but mentioned nothing about the planned cutbacks in social welfare programs and the increase in the consumption tax rate pushed by the LDP, Komei, and the DPJ together. Japan Restoration Party Co-leader Hashimoto Toru and Watanabe Yoshimi of the Your Party both called for further relaxation of regulations and “revision” of agriculture cooperatives. Political parties not confronting but complementing the Abe government cannot respond to people’s demands.

Only in achieving JCP advance

Turning their back on the voices of the people, the Komei Party head and Prime Minister Abe appealed to voters that occupying a majority of the seats in both the Upper and Lower Houses is necessary for the two parties to forge ahead. They are seeking to establish a “dictatorial” government which is far from meeting public expectations.

The JCP is standing firm against LDP policies and is aiming at introducing four major policy changes. Only by achieving a JCP advance in the House of Councilors election can the people change the course of Japanese politics and put a stop to the maladministration of the Abe government.