On the last Sunday, 23 June, elections were held for the 127 seats of the Tokyo Assembly, with a term of four years. It is not a Legislative Assembly, as Japan is not a federal system and the Parliament is the only legislative organ in the country. Still, the Prefectural Assemblies, of which there are 47 in all, are an important stage for the political drama, as they are empowered to decide on the annual budget of the Prefectural governments, and so on. Of course, we have known certain cases where the Assemblies were simply the rubber stamp.
This time, the elections attracted great attention, not only as they were held in the capital, but as they were the first significant political battle after Abe Shinzo's LDP government came into office. Also, we are expecting the elections to the Upper House of the Parliament in July, and the Tokyo election results were generally seen to be the forerunner of the shape of things to come.
The voting ratio was only 44%. This was not exceptionally low, but was by no means praiseworthy. Is it an expression of the general indifference of the public? I do not think so. In my view, sections of the voters could not decide where to vote. True, Abe's economic policies("Abenomics") were still popular. But it also seems to hang on the speculation in the market, as is seen in the rather sharp ups and downs of the share prices. Apart from the share prices, there was not much that the government could have boasted of as the fruits of their policies. There was another party, the Restoration Party, which would have cashed in more votes if the Party Chairman had not uttered, more than once, those racially and gender-biased remarks which were reported outside Japan also. So quite a few were at a loss on the voting day.
The LDP got 59, their ally, Komei Party, 23, getting hold of a clear majority. But, to almost everybody's astonishment, the Communists came to the third, with 17, more than doubling the former 8. Why? In almost everybody's view, they were the most straightforward and unbending in opposing Abe's policies, by making it clear that they were opposed to the proposed reopening of the nuclear plants, rewriting of the constitution, hike in the consumption tax, joining the TPP, and so on. So whenever the voters wanted to have a say on these lines and had a look at the policies of different parties, they came, in many cases for the first time, to the Communists, probably the only functioning party of that name in the developed countries.
This time, the elections attracted great attention, not only as they were held in the capital, but as they were the first significant political battle after Abe Shinzo's LDP government came into office. Also, we are expecting the elections to the Upper House of the Parliament in July, and the Tokyo election results were generally seen to be the forerunner of the shape of things to come.
The voting ratio was only 44%. This was not exceptionally low, but was by no means praiseworthy. Is it an expression of the general indifference of the public? I do not think so. In my view, sections of the voters could not decide where to vote. True, Abe's economic policies("Abenomics") were still popular. But it also seems to hang on the speculation in the market, as is seen in the rather sharp ups and downs of the share prices. Apart from the share prices, there was not much that the government could have boasted of as the fruits of their policies. There was another party, the Restoration Party, which would have cashed in more votes if the Party Chairman had not uttered, more than once, those racially and gender-biased remarks which were reported outside Japan also. So quite a few were at a loss on the voting day.
The LDP got 59, their ally, Komei Party, 23, getting hold of a clear majority. But, to almost everybody's astonishment, the Communists came to the third, with 17, more than doubling the former 8. Why? In almost everybody's view, they were the most straightforward and unbending in opposing Abe's policies, by making it clear that they were opposed to the proposed reopening of the nuclear plants, rewriting of the constitution, hike in the consumption tax, joining the TPP, and so on. So whenever the voters wanted to have a say on these lines and had a look at the policies of different parties, they came, in many cases for the first time, to the Communists, probably the only functioning party of that name in the developed countries.
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