The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is planned to propose a policy to cut down the number of legislators in the House of Representatives during the current ordinary session of the Diet. The plan is to eliminate five lawmakers in the single-seat constituencies and another 80 in the proportional representation (PR) bloc. It is a combined policy linked with a government's intention to heighten the consumption tax rate. The DPJ's proposal will further alienate the Diet from people, leading the supreme organ of the state to a death. The New Socialist Party (NSP) never accepts this policy.

NOT REDUCTION OF PARLIAMENTARIANS, BUT CHANGE IN ELECTION SYSTEM

Mass media are noisy with one voice, repeating that 'the first person to pay sacrifice is a legislator so that the consumption tax rate may be surged'. Reacting to the chorus, the DPJ has decided on a policy practically identical with that of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the former government, to reach a compromise. Smaller parties, however, strongly oppose the reduction policy as their bases will be threatened.

The NSP is harshly against the legislator reduction policy under the current parallel voting system; a system of the single-seat constituency coupled with proportional representation. It is because a half of the votes cast in a small constituency is cut off, and that means democracy is neglected as the minority's opinions are not respected. The PR voting bloc narrowly provides with a stage to reflect people's will. If the number of lawmakers decreases, the Diet will depend on distorted public opinions.

Cut Salaries of Lawmakers

It is the high time to make a drastic change in the election rules. Democracy is thrown away now from the point of parliamentary democracy system.

The Diet should be 'composed of elected lawmakers to represent people of the nation' as Article 43 of Constitution says. If the Diet is to be well qualified, the following conditions must be met in the minimal sense. They are (1) a legitimate election system that reflects public opinions, (2) everyone is free to become a candidate, and (3) political parties behave independently. Judging from these points of view, the current election rules and the DPJ's reduction proposal violate the constitution article.

A voting system that could exactly reflect people's will is the PR system, in which seats of smaller parties and various public opinions are concentrated. Meanwhile, in the single-seat constituency only one candidate can win and the votes cast in favor of other candidates below the second rank are cut off.

There is another controversial point in the DPJ's proposal. It estimates the total as only 6.1 billion Yen, in terms of the planned decrease in the salaries of legislators and his/her three public secretaries and relevant expenses. Look at the consumption tax rate hike by 5% to be implemented in exchange of the decrease of lawmakers. It totals approximately 12.5 trillion Yen. That is beyond a comparison. If the government advocates 'getting slimmed', it should pay more attention to cutting down salaries and expenditure of legislators rather than reducing their number.

Hard to be a Candidate

It is essential to make a great change of the Public Election Act, if everyone is guaranteed to be a candidate regardless of a size of political party and individual capacities. The existing rules impose on political parties and individuals two hard, discriminatory conditions: 'requirements as a political party' and 'deposit money'.

A qualified political party must have five legislators in the Diet, or in the most current elections it must have won 2% of votes. If the conditions are not met, a candidate is rigorously discriminated in the TV announcement of campaign speeches, and etc. As for deposit, a candidate must pay 6 million Yen in terms of PR bloc and 3 million Yen in a single-seat constituency bloc. The sum is so expensive and is rarely seen in the rest of the world. The deposit scheme must be changed.

Abolish Public Fund to Assist Political Party

A grant system was established as a kind of mortgage in 1994 when political donations were regulated from business companies and other organizations. But this fund deteriorates the very basis of democracy. A qualified political party is granted by tax money in accordance with the number of lawmakers: the party receives 250 Yen from every national (the Communist Party rejects to receive it).

As for the LDP and DPJ, 70-80% of their finance comes from this source. They are like a state-financed political party as they rely far more heavily on the grant money than contributions of party members and business activities. Parties are not obliged to disclose usage of that tax money. Today the fund is criticized as money is spent on other activities than political ones.

The controversial fund must be annulled first, if the government is ready to 'get slimmed'.

January 31, 2012