Japan Press Weekly

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2016 May 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

4 opposition leaders agree to prevent consumption tax hike to 10%

Heads of the Japanese Communist, Democratic, Social Democratic, and People’s Life parties on May 19 held a meeting in the Diet building and agreed to prevent the planned consumption tax increase to 10% in April 2017.

In the meeting, in addition to the opposition to the sales tax hike, the four leaders also decided to make utmost efforts to realize the fielding of joint candidates in all single-seat constituencies in the upcoming House of Councilors election and for their achieving victory in the election. Furthermore, the opposition leaders concluded to speed up talks on cooperation among the opposition parties in the House of Representatives election and begin discussing the joint submission of a no-confidence motion against the Abe Cabinet.

After the meeting, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo said to the press that this meeting will bring further progress in opposition parties’ cooperation which has been promoted in various fields since the previous meeting held on February 19 before the inauguration of the DP with the merger of the Democratic Party of Japan with the Japan Innovation Party.

Shii went on to say, “It is significant that opposition parties determined to work in concert to resist the consumption tax increase, the key issue in the current Japanese political realm.”

As another important outcome of the meeting, Shii noted that the four leaders affirmed that they will develop their parties’ cooperation in other shared tasks along with the objection to the sales tax hike. He added that the JCP will work hard to form a consensus as much as possible in negotiations on various issues, such as the Japanese economy, the Constitution, the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade framework, U.S. bases in Okinawa, and nuclear power generation.

Citing the fact that joint opposition candidates were selected in 90% of 32 single-member districts in the Upper House election, Shii expressed his determination to achieve seats in all the 32 constituencies by strengthening the four opposition parties’ unified efforts.

Regarding the no-confidence motion, Shii said, “In the meeting, as the reason for the submission, I pointed to the fact that the Abe government bulldozed through the unconstitutional war legislation and destroyed constitutionalism, democracy, and pacifism.”

Past related article:
> 4 opposition leaders take part in Constitution Day rally along with 50,000 people [May 4, 2016]
> 4 opposition parties jointly submit a bill to regulate working hours [April 20, 2016]
> Electoral cooperation to repeal war legislation agreed upon among opposition parties [February 20, 2016]