Opposition Parties Review Upper House Election

While some new small parties achieved significant victories, traditional opposition parties resulted in certain defeats in the Upper House election in July. As leading Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) reviews its miserable setback, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai) and Japan Communist Party (JCP) respectively discuss who in the party are responsible for their unpopularity to the voters. 

Although the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito reduced their seats to lose its majority in the Upper House, the top opposition party, CDPJ, failed in gaining surge, obtaining the same 22 seats as the number it had before the election. Although Ishin added one seat, it was not recognized as satisfactory result, not taking good opportunity for the opposition parties. The JCP had 7 seats to be reelected, it won only 3 seats in the election. The votes left the leading coalition went to two relatively conservative opposition parties, the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) and Sanseito.

 

The CDPJ held a meeting of lawmakers in both Houses of the Diet on August 22. Although its leaders hoped to conclude the Upper House election to have been “unable to win,” the lawmakers accused them of the insufficient review. Some of them demanded to replace board members, including Yoshihiko Noda and Secretary General Junya Ogawa, to make their responsibility clear.

 

Some members of the CDPJ were skeptical on willingness of their leaders to replace the leadership taken by the LDP and Komeito. Considering the success of DPP and Sanseito, other members criticized CDPJ’s campaign strategy, which was not enough to take advantage of social networking services to reach young voters. There also were some arguments on policies they appealed, including elimination of consumption tax cut for foods to help households with difficulty in their daily life.

 

In spite of a small increase of its seat, most members of Ishin regarded the result of Upper House election as a failure. Exposed to serious criticisms in the party, the co-chair of Ishin, Seiji Maehara, stepped down soon after the election, replaced by former secretary general Fumitake Fujita. The party, leaning more on the conservative side, approaches the LDP to implement its policies, including an initiative to give Osaka some roles as the capital of Japan.

 

JCP aimed at receiving 6.5 million votes for the proportional district in Upper House election. The outcome fell to 2.86 million, less than a half of its target. The party was the leader in criticizing slush fund scandal of the LDP factions, which was revealed in 2023. Nevertheless, the party could not take advantage of it. “The result of election was regrettable and disappointing,” said JCP Chairwoman, Tomoko Tamura.

 

Weakness of those opposition parties effectively help the LDP keep on leading the government. In policy discussion with the LDP and Komeito, the opposition parties are still responsible for implementing hopes of the voters who expected them to lead the politics.

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