Coalition government and Prime Minister Mori must together step down immediately - Akahata editorial, April 6, 2001

With the party presidential election almost scheduled, a real race for Liberal Democratic Party leadership is starting. But Prime Minister Mori himself has not yet made an official announcement on his resignation.

Four weeks have passed since the news of his de facto resignation announcement swept throughout the world, and he still is in power. It's extraordinary for a prime minister to resort to such doubletalk. He promised the government parties that he will resign, but in the Diet and before the people he poses as a viable prime minister.

Serious economic policy failure

The LDP and the Komei Party, engaged in party politics, have been playing with the question of the prime minister's responsibility, seriously damaging the interests of the Japanese people. This has been proven by the promise Mori made during the recent talks with the U.S. president that Japan will carry out the early disposition of bad debts in response to the U.S. demand. Such a promise will only help increase business failures and unemployment. This is an example of what the results of the recent series of summit talks mean to the people.

With no room for maneuvering, all that the prime minister can do is force the people to pay the price of his misgovernment. The people's anger and distrust toward the coalition government under Mori are clear in public polls, showing the lowest ever support rate for the Mori cabinet.

Backed by public opinion into a corner, the LDP and the Komei Party are maneuvering to remain in power just by replacing Mori as prime minister. But, such opportunism is useless before the people.

It is now one year since the New Conservative Party joined the LDP, and Komei in the coalition government, and 18 months since the Komei Party took part in a coalition government with the LDP.

Their irresponsible politics, using their force of numbers in the Diet, has allowed them to get all undemocratic bills enacted in complete disregard of the people's interests, devastating Japan's politics and aggravating the economic crisis. The coalition government of the LDP and the Komei Party is responsible for throwing Japan's politics, economy, and foreign relations into complete disarray.

The economic failure is the worst example of their misgovernment.

The government has argued that an increase in corporate profits will help recover the household economy. But as Prime Minister Mori has admitted during the one-on-one debate with Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in the Diet on April 4, it was a mistaken policy.

The government economic policies have ended in a failure. What is necessary now for improving the economy is an urgent measure to help the people have more money to spend for their household, such as a cut in the consumption tax rate, as the JCP proposes. But the government seems to have no intention to do this. We can expect nothing from the LDP-Komei-Conservative coalition government toward ending the economic crisis.

The point is that the Komei Party's participation in the coalition government has been the driving force to implement more vicious policies than under the LDP's single-party rule.

The LDP and the Komei Party have joined together to railroad through a number of undemocratic laws, including the War Laws for implementing the new Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation, the Wiretapping Law, the law for reducing House of Representatives seats to be elected from proportional representation election constituencies, and the law adversely revising the House of Councilors election system. These laws which will harm Japan's future and people's rights couldn't have been enacted when the government was run by the LDP alone.

Several cabinet ministers had to resign in connection with corruption scandals arising from concession hunting and corruption in LDP politics. Far from investigating the allegations, the ruling parties conspired to acquit those politicians of all corruption charges, thus making moral hazzard more serious. This is another example of how harmful the Komei Party's role is.

Komei Party's special role

The Komei Party's doubletalk is something which the people cannot understand.

When the corruption scandal involving KSD came under growing public criticism, Kanzaki Takenori, Komei Party representative, publicly stated that the party will do its utmost to get the allegations completely investigated and call for persons concerned to be summoned as sworn witnesses to the Diet. But in the Diet, his party opposed the summoning of those witnesses.

On the alleged misuse of "secret state funds," Fuyushiba Tetsuzo, Komei Party secretary-general, publicly asked whether such a large amount of money in secret funds is necessary. But even after the misappropriation was revealed in the Diet, the Komei Party refused to accept the opposition parties' proposal for cutting the funding for such secret purposes.

The Komei Party has been selling itself as an "opposition party within the ruling coalition," but it has also been doing everything possible to maintain the coalition government and let the LDP politics live longer.

Prime Minister Mori's resignation must be immediately followed by the LDP and the Komei Party giving up power. (end)