Opposition parties continue to work earnestly to get united: building up a common electoral platform to share policies for the coming state level election. The Abe government, on the other hand, deliberately thwarts contentious points. Candidates have been fielded successfully in every single-seated constituency. Indignation of voters to the state’s politics is boiling. What should we do so that the constitution-amendment lawmakers may not hold 2/3 of seats in the House of Councilors?

COMMON ELECTORAL GROUND MUST BE READY FOR CONSUMOTION TAX AND PENSION PLANS

Anger of the electorate with the Abe government prevails largely, especially on the controversial paper given by the Finance Examination Council and the Aegis-ashore missile system deployment issue. Prime Minister Abe Shinzo recently visited the disputed Northern Territory islands and Iran, giving a political show of his diplomatic efforts to fail in vain. It is clearly seen that this government will be compelled to agree to harsh conditions in the trade and deregulation deals with the United States in coming autumn.

Nevertheless, contentious points in the election have remained vague; it is not only because of a tactic of the ruling bloc to refuse budget meetings, but also of lack of coordination of the opposition forces that they could not share common electoral policies. As for the constitution-amendment drives of the Abe government, they get successfully united in actions as was seen in the decision to cancel a bill to revise the Referendum Act in the Constitution Examination Council.

Get united on pensions and tax, too!

The stance of opposition forces towards tax and financial policies, however, is not firm. Party leaders held June 19 an open discussion meeting and the politicians accused jointly the finance panel’s report. Nevertheless, they could not get consolidated on the pension issue. Thus, relevant policies remain in discrepancy.

Many of the opposition leaders propose a minimally-guaranteed pension amount, opposing the scheduled hike in the consumption tax rate. They are united to the extent. Why can’t they demand more, a basic blueprint by which tax money could be spent on pensions, without surging the tax rate? Combined efforts are needed on the future of consumption tax rate. Some request ‘freezing’ of hikes. They have different ideas concerning the proportional taxation on income taxes.

The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) announced recently the Economic Visions which clearly says that instead of increasing the consumption tax rate, it is necessary to modify the existing system to be fairer. The description is highly evaluated, but the party does not put forward the minimum pension sum that may guarantee a life of the elderly. Voters are not impressed. Is the party too nervous with mass media which rigorously warn settlement of financial deficits?

Reportedly, people get together in the street to listen to a speech of a politician, Mr. Yamamoto Taro, who demands abolition of the consumption tax. One of the CDP candidates for a proportional representation seat has the same policy. The New Socialist Party welcomes this trend to extend.

The Ishin Group becomes influential across country

A troublesome point in the election is that candidates from the Ishin Group, a rightwing force, are fielded at length in the county. It attempts to win as many seats as possible both in the constituencies and in the proportional representation tract. The political group eagerly integrates similar factions, not only the Osaka-Ishin, but also the Tax-Reduction Japan of Aichi Prefecture, former Party of Hope of Tokyo and Kanagawa regions, and the New Party Daichi led by Mr. Suzuku Muneo. Candidates of these links are enrolled in the proportional representation list.

We should be careful about the situation, judging from facts that the Ishin is strong in the Osaka area and that the opposition partnership is not effective as it was in the preceding elections. The Ishin group attempts to gain sympathy from the so-called ‘lost generation’ voters and young people: they harshly denounce the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and repel the opposition bloc, too, as they are exhausted from routines at workplaces and abstain from voting. They are scantily exposed to manipulations of the Ishin group.

The existing opposition parties are unable to present reliable policies to cope with imminent poverty. They lack in a language to share with these voters, left behind in the campaigns. It is imperative, however, to beat down conservative-affiliated runners in the coming election.

The most important task is to reduce the number of seats for pro-amendment lawmakers. For this purpose let’s concentrate votes to promising candidates in the multiple-seat constituencies as in the same way as in the single-seated constituencies. For the proportional representation channel, let’s cast a ballot for candidates of the Social-Democratic Party.

If we succeed in frustrating the government’s plan to rewrite the constitution in 2020, we can save some time to prepare for better conditions politically and organizationally.

July 2, 2019