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2023 July 19 - 25 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Koike protests remark by ‘Ishin’ party head ‘JCP should not exist in Japan’

The rightist “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party head, Baba Nobuyuki, on a political talk show streamed on July 23 on an internet TV channel said, “The Japanese Communist Party is a political party which should disappear from Japan.”

On the following day, JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira held a press conference in the Diet building. Condemning Baba for making this outrageous remark that fundamentally denies democracy, Koike demanded that the Ishin head retract his remark.

Koike pointed out that political parties have the liberty to criticize and question each other regarding their policies. However, he said, to make an assertion that a particular political party should be disbanded is unacceptable as it is tantamount to a negation of democracy.

Furthermore, Koike pointed out that as stated by Voltaire, a philosopher during the era of the French Enlightenment, the important thing is to show respect for each other despite differences in opinion, adding, “This is the fundamental principle of democracy.”

Koike noted that Baba in the same talk show said that competition between the “main” Liberal Democratic Party and the “second” LDP will help improve LDP government policies, showing his recognition that the Ishin party is a LDP variant.

Koike said, “The Ishin leader confessed that the Ishin party has no intent to change the anti-people LDP politics and declared in public that his party is the ‘LDP Baba faction’. The Ishin party should stop pretending to be an LDP opponent. This only creates a further obstacle to initiating a reform of Japan’s politics.”