No confidence in PM Fukuda: JCP Kokuta

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

No confidence in PM Fukuda: JCP Kokuta

The House of Representatives on June 12 approved a motion of confidence in Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo’s cabinet. The Japanese Communist Party voted against the motion.

The Democratic, Social Democratic, and People’s New parties boycotted the session.

The resolution was jointly introduced by the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties as action countering the previous day’s approval by the House of Councilors of a motion censuring Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo.

Speaking on behalf of the JCP, Kokuta Keiji pointed out that the Fukuda Cabinet, since its start last September, has betrayed the public in domestic and foreign policies, with its public approval rating dropping to around 20 percent.

“How can we have confidence in the Fukuda Cabinet?” Kokuta said.

Kokuta criticized the Fukuda Cabinet for arbitrarily introducing the new health insurance system discriminating against the elderly aged 75 and over last April and for dismissing the growing public calls for the system to be immediately repealed. “The task now is for the Diet to enact a bill jointly introduced by the four opposition parties to repeal the new health insurance system for the elderly,” he added.

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At a news conference later in the day, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo emphasized that growing criticism of the Fukuda Cabinet reflects public anger at the newly introduced health insurance system for the elderly. The recent Okinawa Prefectural Assembly election is another example of the public anger.

He said that the two-third majority held in the House of Representatives by the ruling parties is fictitious in that they won these seats three years ago in an election in which they deceived the public by emphasizing that the major issue was “postal reform.”

“Given the fact that the motion was carried by the ‘fictitious’ majority, the resolution of confidence does not mean that its legitimacy has been publicly confirmed.” he argued. - Akahata, June 13, 2008