Party leaders make final push for votes in Upper House poll
Japanese political party leaders made their final appeals across the country for voter support in their stump speeches Saturday, the day before the closely watched triennial election for the House of Councillors.
The biggest focus is whether the ruling camp of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito will be able to win 50 contested seats necessary to maintain its majority in the upper chamber of Japan's parliament.
The outcome could affect the fate of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the coalition framework.
In last year's election for the House of Representatives, the ruling camp suffered a crushing defeat, losing its majority in the lower parliamentary chamber.
On Saturday, Ishiba took to the streets of Sendai in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi and the city of Tokushima in the namesake prefecture in western Japan, before giving his final stump speech for the Upper House election in front of Kamata Station in Tokyo's Ota Ward.
Criticising the opposition parties' proposals to cut the consumption tax to combat inflation, Ishiba said: "It is the consumption tax that has supported health care, pensions, nursing care and child care. Policies that are not responsible for the future should not be called policies."
In his stump speech in the Yurakucho district of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said, "There is a good possibility that the LDP and Komeito will lose their combined majority" in the Upper House. He added, "The CDP's philosophy is to enrich people's lives and household budgets."
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito said in Ageo in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, "The ruling parties will stand firm to create a country where people can live with peace of mind."
Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), said in front of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, "It is necessary to carry out reform to lower social insurance premiums, which are too high."
Tomoko Tamura, leader of the Japanese Communist Party, said in Asaka in Saitama, "We will drive the LDP-Komeito coalition into a minority." "The JCP is a solid force to realise a consumption tax cut," she added.
Noting that the government's tax revenues have reached a record high, Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said in a speech in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, that excess tax revenues should be returned to people through tax cuts. "We will make people richer," he said.
In Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, western Japan, Taro Yamamoto, leader of Reiwa Shinsengumi, called for the abolition of the consumption tax to realise income growth through increased consumption.
In Saitama, Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya proposed creating a government agency to comprehensively manage policies related to foreign nationals and tighten regulations.
Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima and Conservative Party of Japan head Naoki Hyakuta also appealed for support.
In the election, 125 seats are up for grabs in the 248-seat Upper House. A total of 522 people filed their candidacies--350 candidates for 75 prefectural constituency seats and 172 candidates for 50 proportional representation seats.
Excluding by-elections, it is the first time under Japan's current Constitution that an election for either chamber of parliament is held in the middle of a holiday period of three days or more.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
