Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 July 17 - 23 TOP3 [ELECTION]

JCP increases to 11 seats from 6 in Upper House

In the July 21 Upper House election, the Japanese Communist Party accomplished its target of winning five seats in the proportional representation constituency and gained a seat in three major electoral districts.

The party significantly increased its seats to eight from the three which were up for the election. Combining with the three uncontested ones, the JCP now holds eleven seats in the upper chamber, regaining the qualification for the right to submit bills to the Diet.

The JCP Standing Executive Committee on July 23 published the following statement on the House of Councilors election results:

In the proportional representation constituency, the party received 5,154,000 votes (9.68%), up 1,590,000 votes from the 3,560,000 in the previous Upper House election in 2010 and up 1,460,000 votes from the 3,690,000 in the Lower House election last year.

The JCP restored its presence in the Tokyo electoral district (out of 5 contested seats) for the first time in 12 years and in the Osaka (4 contested seats) and Kyoto (2 contested seats) districts after 15 years of absence, respectively. The party put up a good fight in many other districts, though unsuccessful, greatly attracting voters support for the party’s candidate or coming close to gain a victory. The number of votes the party received in the electoral districts amounted to 5,645,000 (10.64%), 1,390,000 more votes than in the previous 2010 election. Supported by the JCP, Itokazu Keiko defeated a Liberal Democratic Party candidate and captured an Okinawa seat (1 contested seat).

The JCP Executive Committee would like to thank all the voters for giving their support to the JCP and all the JCP supporters and members for making all-out efforts to win in the hot weather throughout the campaign period.

In terms of national elections, the JCP made a great advance for the first time in 15 years since the House of Councilors election in 1998.

The JCP has created a “rising tide of advance” twice in the past, one in the 70s and the other in the late 90s. Following the party’s victory in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election last month, our success in the Upper House election can be considered a historical event marking the beginning of a “third tide of advance”.

What brought about our gains this time is due to the undaunted struggles the whole party has carried out for years while opposing fierce anti-communist attempts, such as the decade-long propaganda of establishing a “2-party system”. The JCP Executive Committee would like to express its appreciation to all the members who have had a part in these struggles, and call for a new struggle from now on in order to further advance the JCP progress.

During the election campaign, the JCP directly criticized the Abe Cabinet’s outrageous policies and proposed four drastic reforms in policies affecting the economy, nuclear energy, the Constitution, and diplomacy in order to create a new course of politics where the general public is the key players.

The ruling LDP and Komei coalition obtained more than half of the seats in the House of Councilors. Although they say that this election result has removed the “distortion” between the Upper and Lower Houses, what it has actually brought about is a more serious distortion between the majority of citizens and LDP-style policies. Concerning urgent national issues, including the consumption tax hike, restart of nuclear power plants, revision of the war-renouncing Article 9, the entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, and U.S. bases in Japan, the contradiction between the Abe Cabinet and the public will be deepened further and inevitably lead to a turbulent crisis.

The presence of the JCP and the role it can play under this new situation are crucial. We are determined to make the best use of the new foothold we have obtained in the Diet and develop cooperation with various citizens’ movements in order to realize the four reforms and other election promises.

The election result marks the first achievement brought about by efforts the party has made for several years to increase the party membership and build a stronger party, to hold a series of lectures on the JCP Program and scientific socialism, and to develop party activities among party branches at workshops, young citizens and students. Our pursuit and efforts need to be increased even further in order to create a bigger party that can fully meet the needs emerging in the current situation.

The major advance achieved in this election can create a historical opportunity for the JCP to create a bigger and stronger party. There is no doubt that more and more citizens now have an interest in and pay attention to the JCP. Let us renew our determination and immediately endeavor to further develop our campaign to talk about the JCP Program and our vision of Japan’s future course among a wider range of citizens in order to create a bigger and stronger party.