Getting Closer to the Leading Parties

After a surge in the last general election of the House of Representatives, some opposition parties show behavior as same as the leading parties usually take. Some inner groups of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), which resembles the factions of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), compete each other in inviting new lawmakers to their groups. The Democratic Party for the People (DPP) secretly changed their policy, taking one step closer to the LDP. 

There are about ten groups in the CDPJ, each of which is led by heavyweights of the party. They take a form of policy study groups. CDPJ lawmakers can be affiliated to multiple groups, making difference from the LDP’s faction system. However, some policy groups in the CDPJ showed integrated action in voting for the candidates in the leader’s election held in September.

 

The CDPJ gained 39 freshmen/women in the general election in October. It is the time for each group to increase its members. The biggest group, Sanctuary, led by former leader Yukio Edano, added 13 newcomers as their member. They were introduced to the old members in the regular meeting on November 13. While the group’s member has expanded to 40 and beyond, it aims at 50.

 

In the same evening, the CDPJ leader, Yoshihiko Noda, surprisingly joined a meeting of young lawmakers of his party. It is supposed that Noda was trying to enhance his power to stabilize political basis by increasing member of his group Kasei-kai. The recruitment of fresh people to their group is just as same as LDP factions.

 

New Administration Study Group, consisted of lawmakers from DPP who joined the CDPJ in 2020, added ten new lawmakers. The group raised Masayo Tanabu for new leader, making the first woman who leads a group in the CDPJ. Shape of State Study Group, a liberal-leaning group which had been led by former prime minister, Naoto Kan, also hopes to add about ten members. It elected Chinami Nishimura for its new female leader.

 

Another group with young lawmakers, Chokkan-no-kai, also tries to increase its member by 10. Considering power struggle among the groups in next leader’s election, the study groups are involved in recruiting new lawmakers.

 

It was reported that the DPP retracted its policy for demanding the government to stop landfill in Henoko, Okinawa, for building U.S. force’s base. DPP Secretary General, Kazuya Shimba, announced that the party would not request Shigeru Ishiba administration revising current construction plan.

 

The construction is highly controversial policy, over which the leading parties and the oppositions sharply split. In the hung parliament, the plan would not be maintained, if the DPP opposed the budget for the construction. DPP had raised the policy of stopping the landfill in Henoko as one of the campaign policies in the general election. It is unclear whether the DPP can explain its approach to the LDP to its supporters.

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