Op-Ed Contributors
Tough task for DPJ
By Zhang Lili (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-13 07:59
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Ruling coalition's poor showing in Japan's Upper House poll means no end in sight for political wrangling
The coalition government led by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has suffered a big loss in the Upper House vote on Sunday, winning only 44 seats out of the contested 121, or half of the total 242 seats in the house. The People's New Party, the DPJ's coalition partner, failed to win any seat.
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the biggest opposition group, won 51 seats compared with the 38 it held previously, and Your Party gained 10 seats, increasing the possibility that it will play a bigger role on the country's political stage.
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The latest election is expected to significantly influence Japanese politics.
The DPJ's below-par election result is a reflection of the dissatisfaction among the Japanese public towards the coalition government's policies, as indicated by the declining number of votes in its favor.
Ever since it came to power in September 2009, the DPJ's public approval has been on the decline given the setbacks the ruling party encountered over a series of domestic and diplomatic policies.
Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's pursuit of tougher diplomacy towards the United States, especially on the issue of relocating Washington's military base from Okinawa, strained Japan's decades-long close ties with its largest ally.
However, Hatoyama finally failed to relocate the US base from the islands, a commitment he had made to the public during the election campaign, and it sparked strong discontent among the Japanese, especially local residents.
To boost its dented approval ratings ahead of the Upper House election, the DPJ-led coalition government had to announce Hatoyama's resignation on June 2 and appoint Naoto Kan to head the Cabinet on June 4.
However, the fewer number of seats it has won in the latest elections indicates that the Kan-led coalition government has achieved little in a month-long endeavor to boost its image among voters. The election result means political games and struggles between the DPJ-led coalition government and opposition forces will dominate Japan's politics in future.
The coalition's failure to hold the majority of upper house seats is also expected to result in such a rivalry. While the Upper House is controlled by the opposition, the Lower House is held by the coalition government.
Such a political landscape will make it difficult for the DPJ-led coalition government to manage the country. In order to gain the majority in the Upper House and ensure that its policies and regulations can be easily passed, the ruling DPJ has to seek a new partner to organize a coalition government.
Given that the People's New Party, its current coalition partner, only holds three seats in the Upper House, the DPJ will have to look for another partner that holds more seats.
However, it is unclear which party will become the DPJ's ideal partner and whether that party will accept the ruling party's invitation to participate in its coalition government.
Any DPJ failure to reorganize the coalition into a majority government will mean that it is likely to be pinned down by opposition forces on major issues and will face bigger difficulties in pushing forward some of its policies.
Domestic matters have long caused the most heated debates in Japan's upper and lower house elections although diplomatic issues have also quite often been a major topic.
In the latest upper house election, the consumption tax issue dominated the agenda.
The LDP-led former Japanese government once tasted defeat due to its incorrect stance on the consumption tax issue.
Naoto Kan's decision to raise the consumption tax from 5 percent to 10 percent on June 17 was a risky political move that failed to elicit for the DPJ positive opinion from the public.
The results of the latest election show the lack of support from the Japanese public for the current government's efforts to improve its worsening budgetary conditions through raising the consumption tax.
In addition to this long-standing thorny issue, the DPJ-led coalition government's failure to find good solutions to the problems caused by the country's economic slump, slack domestic demand, an ageing society and other issues, also became sources of public grievance.
Given former Prime Minister Hatoyama's setback in his pursuit of a tougher stance with the US, both the DPJ and LDP tried to avoid discussing Japan's relations with Washington in the latest election.
In fact, an agreement has been reached between the two parties to keep unchanged the plan signed between the previous LDP-led Japanese government and the White House on the relocation of the US military base from Okinawa.
Given that quite a few Japanese politicians hope to maintain friendly relations with China, whose status has been on the rise in Japan's diplomatic chessboard, ties with the Asian neighbor also did not become an issue during the latest elections.
The author is director of the Center of Chinese Diplomacy Studies, China Foreign Affairs University.
(China Daily 07/13/2010 page8)