Japanese parties gear up for July upper house race
A day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set July 10 as polling day for Japan’s upcoming House of Councillors election, the country’s ruling and opposition parties wasted no time on Thursday launching into campaign mode.
Opposition parties are forming an uncharacteristically united front in an attempt to take down the ruling coalition of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and its partner Komeito, which they say has failed to deliver on economic policy promises and put the country at risk with controversial security legislation.
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The main opposition Democratic Party, Japanese Communist Party and other opposition forces have banded together to endorse single candidates in all 32 contested single-member electoral districts.
Abe’s Cabinet is set to approve on Thursday evening the July 10 polling day and an official campaigning period starting June 22.
In simultaneously announcing on Wednesday the election date and a postponement to a planned consumption tax hike in Japan, Abe described the race as a mandate on whether to continue with his “Abenomics” monetary and fiscal policy mix to shore up the economy.
Citing uncertainty in global economic conditions, the premier said the 2-percentage-point bump of the tax to 10 per cent will now be scheduled for October 2019, a 30-month deferral. It had originally been planned for October 2015 before being reset for April 2017.
Abe said on Wednesday the ruling bloc is aiming to win a majority of the 121 seats up for grabs in the election, a higher hurdle than simply maintaining a majority in the upper house. Half of the upper chamber’s 242 seats are contested every three years, resulting in staggered six-year terms.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga expressed confidence on Thursday that the Abe administration will achieve the goal, saying, “We are not entertaining the possibility of failure.”
LDP heavyweights including policy chief Tomomi Inada began work to compile campaign promises at a party meeting on Thursday. “As a responsible party, we want to make pledges for which we can put up a solid fight in the upper house election,” Inada said.
The LDP is expected to complete a booklet featuring its campaign pledges by mid-June. With the delay to the sales tax hike cutting off a source of government revenue, the party is tasked with explaining in its manifesto how it plans to fund social security policies.
Komeito has set its sights on winning at least seven seats in electoral districts and six under the proportional representation system, leader Natsuo Yamaguchi told a party meeting on Thursday.
Later in the day, the ruling parties are planning to discuss their joint election promises.
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Also on Thursday afternoon, DP leader Katsuya Okada signed a policy accord with the party’s support body the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, the nation’s largest labour organisation and known as Rengo.
Social Democratic Party leader Tadatomo Yoshida called the election “a battle for the Constitution” at a party meeting.
A decisive win by the ruling bloc could bring Abe closer to his goal of reforming the pacifist Japanese Constitution, with a two-thirds majority in both Diet houses required to hold a national referendum on the issue.
