election

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Shii gives analysis of general election results

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo spoke about the September 11 general election results on a TV political news program broadcast on September 14. The interviewer was Asahi Shimbun editorial committee member Honda Masaru.

Koizumi obscured issues and refused to discuss the truth

Q: What is your assessment of the LDP's landslide victory?

Shii: One factor is that many people who feel they are boxed in concerning the present political situation showed vague but high expectations of the LDP's call for "reform."

However, Prime Minister Koizumi used very underhanded tactics.

For one thing, he ran the campaign exclusively on the postal privatization scheme and kept silent on such important issues as constitutional revision and the major tax increase plan.

In discussing the postal privatization scheme, he never mentioned the fact that no tax money is presently used to fund the postal businesses and that Japan Post as a public corporation is paying 50 percent of its profit to the national treasury.

The LDP did not obtain the election results by providing voters with information based on facts. The LDP's jubilation will be short-lived and sooner or later its sharp contradictions with the public interest will erupt.

In this context, it is very important that the Japanese Communist Party put up a good fight by presenting itself as "a true opposition."

'Single-seat constituencies' distorted the results

Q: How do you assess the votes cast for the LDP?

Shii: It is important to note how the single-seat constituency mechanism affected the election.

The percentage of votes for the LDP and Komei parties was 51 percent in proportional representation constituencies and 49 percent in single seat constituencies. These two parties together obtained 68 percent of the Lower House seats, a record-breaking overwhelming majority, with just half of the total votes. This was made possible by the single-seat constituency system that greatly distorts voter preference in favor of the biggest party.

The prime minister states that the postal privatization bills have gained the confidence of the public to legitimate prompt legislation in the Diet. The fact is that public opinion is divided. The prime minister's allegation that the bills are supported by an overwhelming majority is false. This is the important point to note.

Walking a tightrope doesn't help the LDP to break the historical stalemate

Q: How do you see the latest general election taking a historical outlook?

Shii: Historically, in no time in the past has the LDP government been so seriously dragged into a corner either in domestic or in foreign affairs.

In the sense that the Koizumi "reform" is aimed at establishing a government "with direct links with business circles" more clearly than ever before, he is carrying out "reforms." The problem is that reforms are geared to cut services by privatizing the postal services, increase taxes on working people, sharply increase public burdens through adverse revisions of social welfare systems, all forcing people to endure further hardships. The Koizumi Cabinet has no other intention but to push ahead with these policies. This shows how seriously the LDP government has been driven into a corner.

In foreign relations, the Koizumi Cabinet has been isolated from the rest of Asia because of his Yasukuni Shrine visits. With its extraordinary subordination to the United States, the Koizumi Cabinet is at an impasse on the Iraq issue.

Although Prime Minister Koizumi appears to have won a sweeping victory, his success will be short-lived because he is just walking a tightrope.

Struggle to get postal privatization bills scrapped

Q: What would you say about the special Diet session starting on September 21?

Shii: Despite its "land-slide," the LDP's policies are not viable in either domestic or foreign affairs. This all the more calls upon the JCP to play a bigger role in the Diet as the only real opposition.

In order to block the postal privatization bills, the JCP will put up a full-fledged opposition fight in the Diet, and calls on all the opposition parties to join forces to stop the postal bills. This will be the first stage of our effort to scrap the bills. -- Akahata, September 15, 2005