Tuesday, December 22, 2015

A Citizens' Coalition Formed

     Even after the "War Bills" were passed by the Parliament several months ago, the movement to cancel them has not weakened.  Last Sunday, 20 December 2015, was a memorable day in that process.  Five major citizens' groups got together in Tokyo and formed a Citizens' Coalition for the cancellation of the Security Laws and the recovery of the constitutionalism.

     In order to cancel the existing laws, no matter how they may have been passed, it takes a majority in the Parliament.  The next Parliamentary elections are for the Upper House in the middle of 2016, when half of its seats will be elected.  32 of them are from single-member constituencies.  Most of them are in the hands of the LDP-the Government Party, which got the War Bills passed.  If the opposition parties co-operate, they may be able to get many, and if fortunate, all of them, to be in the majority in that House.  That will not enable them to form the alternative Government and get the Laws cancelled, as there is the Lower House which is the crucial battleground.  But the victory in the Upper House will mean a great deal and by itself be a great pressure on the Government to dissolve the present Lower House.

     It is these 32 constituencies that the new coalition is setting its eyes on at the moment. They are not a political party, and as such will not put up their own candidates.  Instead they will organize support to those political parties which pledge to co-operation for the above purpose. There are five of them at present, including the Democratic Party, the Restoration Party, and the Communist Party.  It will take time and a good deal of effort on the part of those parties to agree on a particular candidate and the set of policies he/she is going to pursue if elected, probably with the help of the citizens' coalition, on each of, or at least most of, the 32 constituencies.  If they can, that will surely be a great experiment in our political history.