“The Liberal Democratic Party suffered a stunning defeat, with less than half of the seats in the house of representatives a foregone conclusion.” The Japanese media have reported the results of the 50th House of Representatives election that day: the number of seats in the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party has been significantly reduced, the party’s coalition with Komeito failed to secure more than half of the 465 seats in the lower house, or 233 seats, making it difficult to stay in power. The last time the LDP lost more than half of its seats in the lower house was in 2009. The Prime Minister, President of the Liberal Democratic Party Shigeru Ishiguro, took office on October 1, eight days before disbanding the lower house of Parliament and 26 days before a general election, a political gamble that ended in failure. Some media predict that Shigeru will take the blame and resign, becoming Japan’s shortest-serving prime minister after World War II. Some analysts also believe that even if the seats are less than half, the LDP is still the largest party in the House of Representatives, the party will stay in power with more small parties. Kyodo news agency said there are concerns that Japanese politics will enter a period of chaos.
27, Tokyo, Japan, Election Management Commission staff counting votes.
Shigeru: I will not resign
According to Kyodo news agency reported that the House of Representatives election from 27,7:00 in the morning across the country to vote, 8:00 at the end of the vote, followed by counting. The election’s biggest concern is the public outcry over kickbacks at political fundraising banquets run by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) . Shigeru took office on October 1 after the resignation of Fumio Kishida, the former prime minister, and 26 days later came elections for the Lower House of Parliament, the shortest time to prepare for a general election since the Second World War.
Japan’s last House of Representatives elections were held in October 2021. When the current House of Representatives disbanded the power structure: the Liberal Democratic Party accounted for 247 seats, Komeito party 32 seats, “Since the ruling coalition,” the total number of seats for 279. According to the Yahoo news website, the number of seats of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito party was greatly reduced, and the number of seats of the largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, was much larger than before the election. Heavyweights such as Akira Amari, the LDP’s former secretary-general, and Hakubun Shimomura, its former Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, have lost. Second Order Shinkang, son of second order Junbo, former secretary-general of the LDP, entered the election in the form of”Inheriting territory” and was also badly defeated.
The Yomiuri said that after the election, the first thing to be concerned about is whether the prime minister will take responsibility and resign. According to the newspaper’s analysis, although there may be calls within the liberal democratic party for Shi to step down, because a special parliamentary meeting for the Prime Minister’s nomination election may be convened in November, before that, calls for Shi to step down are unlikely to win a majority within the LDP.
“I realize the current situation is very serious,” Ishiba said on a television program Sunday night after the vote, TBS News reported, “The biggest reason is the complete lack of understanding [ among voters ] about politics and money.”. He also said he would not resign and would”Do his duty”. “From now on, we must do our best to achieve our policy objectives.”.
Yoshihiko Noda: will strive to become Prime Minister
Yahoo reported that the headquarters of the Constitutional Democratic Party in Tokyo was filled with cheers on the evening of the 27th, but the leader of the party, Yoshihiko Noda, came here and calmly placed a sign with the candidates’ names and flowers in the center of the venue. When asked to smile, Noda said sternly, “This is not the time to smile,” before going on television to say he would fight to become prime minister and co-operate with other political parties.
“This kind of election result is undoubtedly a big defeat for the Liberal Democratic Party,” Zhou Yongsheng, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the Foreign Affairs University, said in an interview with the Global Times on the 27th, the inability of the self-governing coalition to win more than half of the seats means that it can not continue to govern on a bipartisan basis alone. It must unite with a third party, distribute power to a third party and”Share” cabinet positions.
For now, Zhou says, the Japan Restoration Party is closer to the LDP. But it is also a right-wing party that has had its share of political funding scandals. And there are differences between the reformists and the LDP’s policy ideas, it is not easy to run into, but there seems to be no better alternative.
Zhou Yongsheng said it was customary for the prime minister to take responsibility and resign from office if he suffered a crushing defeat in the general election. Even if the stone broken Mao hard stand not to resign, waist is not hard, behind the operation of the regime will be difficult. It is worth noting that the opposition constitutional Democratic Party’s significant increase in the seats, even if this can not achieve”Regime change”, it will greatly boost confidence.
“Japanese politics may be in turmoil.”
“The United States is closely watching the Japanese election and is worried that the political situation in Japan will be thrown into chaos,” Kyodo said, adding that the LDP’s half-majority in the lower house of parliament was a foregone conclusion that could lead to a political shift in Japan. There are also concerns that security policies, such as closer co-operation between the self-defence forces and the US military, will be delayed if traditional ldp-centred politics become unstable. Even if Shigeru could stay in power, it would be difficult to raise taxes to increase defense spending, and the Japanese government is likely to adopt populist policies, Bloomberg said Tuesday.
Lu Chao, Dean of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University, told the Global Times on the 27th that the LDP suffered its biggest”Fiasco” in 15 years, it will lead to the Shigeru regime in the parliament is very limited, the operation of the regime is facing great difficulties. The Constitutional Democrats want to be in power, and this is a real opportunity. But the Liberal Democratic Party, as the largest party in power for a long period of time, still has its might. The Constitutional Democratic Party is likely to seek a coalition in power, and the difficulty is not small.
Lu said that the results of the House of Representatives election will not have much impact on sino-japanese relations in general. But I hope the LDP takes this fiasco as an opportunity to think about what kind of diplomacy and what kind of policies would really benefit Japan’s own interests.