politics

Koike quits as head of Party of Hope

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The party of Hope will eventually disband. The whole party was built around Koike's stardom.  I don't think they will accomplish anything now.

But despite her bid to create what she called a "reformist, conservative" rival to Abe's LDP, Koike's party won only 51 seats in the 465-member lower house.

That tally was not only dwarfed by the LDP's 283 seats but also lagged the 54 seats taken by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), a group hastily formed by liberal-leaning former Democratic Party members.

There is a lesson to be learned here. Do not try to be LDP-light. Conservatives will always vote conservative and liberals will always vote liberal.

16 ( +16 / -0 )

Good riddance, the only thing I enjoyed about the election was the CDJP beating the Kibo no To. For all the hype, Koike was basically just offering a slightly different version of the LDP to voters.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

I don't think they will accomplish anything now.

Koike being a Nippon Kaigi member... I don't think the intention was ever to win anyway.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

Just another typical Japanese pol.  Opportunistic and with no guiding principles at all.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

I find it hard to resist seeing this in the frame of collusion.

She is Nippon Kaigi and seems to be aligned policy-wise almost down the line with the LDP including the role of the military in Japan

She started her own party and recruited members of the only party in Japan that would appear to put up any sort of challenge to the ruling party's half century reign of power thereby decimating any opposition to the LDP and clearing a path for Abe to change the constitution (as it wouldn't be the all but guaranteed victory they were after but the mandate provided with complete election dominance)

Once the time came for a national election she, as leader and only real hope in terms of national candidate for the party, conveniently decides not to run.

Once the election is decided and the job is done she steps down as leader.

Let's just see what her future holds. I'm sure her service won't go without great reward.

Of course none of this is fact and I'm not intending to portray it as such but is sure seems to me like this "ruling class" of politicians has duped the people into bending to it's will and agenda.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Koike being a Nippon Kaigi member... I don't think the intention was ever to win anyway.

That's an excellent point X.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Where are all the people on here who drank the koike kool-aid? Awfully silent.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

So much for a new hope. Now, time for the empire strikes back.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

J-Drake spot on, I admit at first I was on board with her but now, it's looking like same spots just different Leprechauns. Desperately want changes shattered there is none.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Wouldn't be surprised if the glass ceiling shall have been shattered in the Land of the Rising Sun within a decade.

I wouldn't count on it. Have you seen how few politicians there are in the Diet (with only two in the cabinet) and Japan continuing to drop down the international rankings for gender equality despite all Abe's puffery about the empowerment of women?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

More like stepped down, she didnt quit the party, and it is probably best for the future of the party as well.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

She has more experience in SDF commanding than Onodera. 

How do you figure?

She served 6 months as Defense minister and quit. Onodera served a full two year term. She also has no military experience like Gen Nakatani.

She does have a degree in Arabic studies from the University of Cairo, but it was during Onodera’s stint that the SDF raised contribution to anti-piracy.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I guess there wasn’t any more hope for her and her party of it.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

What a joke.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

To Koike's credit, her move succeeded in 

destroying the disaster that was the DP, in the lower house at least.

This has led to the creation of CDPJ, which has clear colours as a lefty liberal party, with no non-LDP conservatives. This is a much welcome development and perhaps the greatest result of her actions.

It Would be a set back if at some point the Party of Hope membership now decide to merge with the CDPJ, recreating the DP again, because that will only serve to lengthen the reign of the LDP once more.

What Japan needs is a strong new "righty" party differentiated from the LDP, in that it will stop protecting various vested interests (like farmers, etc), one that will stop spending money like crazy, one that will stop taxing people so much, one that will vastly reform Japan's unsustainable welfare systems.

My ideal scenario is for like-minded people within the Party of Hope and LDP to join with the reformist Ishin party.

There would be a clear difference between the LDP, and the new righty reformist party. The LDP is for big government - high taxes and lots of intervention. 

The CDPJ is essentially for big government too, but differ on who should pay for the spending.

The new "righty" reformist party should be for small government - lower taxes, and less government intervention. (To an extent, what the LDP would be like if Abe had been serious about his 3rd arrow reforms, but I believe it may be because the LDP is what it is that these reforms have never seen the light of day.)

With strong leadership and clear policies, such a party could easily attract voters from the stale-old LDP. But with neither Toru Hashimoto or Yuriko Koike in the Diet at present, it is hard to see where such leadership might come from anytime soon.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

And tomorrow she'll form a 'new' party called "A New Hope (Party)". And everyone will quit her old Party of Hope and join, with it's promise of change.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Hahaha, hope you can truly believe in

2 ( +3 / -1 )

J-DakeToday  10:00 am JST

I find it hard to resist seeing this in the frame of collusion.

They weren't running candidates in every single seat election so I can't see what else it could have been except trying to split the conservative vote and take enough seats from the LDP to force them into a coalition. Koike must have known that after the election Abe would still be PM no matter what.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

everybody forgot the american-educated guy who won the election a few years back. his name was pidgin or something. he promised to rid japan of american occupation, after 6 months he shock hand with obama and quit. 80% voted for him. gone. abe continues with 38%. his scheming antics probably planted her to divide the vote. next year she will be forgotten, except in tokyo, what with the olympics and all...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Abe's wife herself was keen to present herself as LGBT friendly, so I'd be watchful of virtue signalling by politicians on gay issues.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Falling star....

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Koike should better rejoin LDP and adjust herself in the party.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Just as expected

希望が絶望に変わった。

0 ( +0 / -0 )

As someone said, the good thing about this debacle is that we now have a party devoid of closeted right-wingers like Maehara. This new Party of Hope is going to sink, dragging down its members. I hope they won't be let in Edano's party.

Never warmed to Koike, and this just proves what a snake she really is.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Let's see what Edano will do this coming months, he seems legit. Then again Koike also seemed legit. :(

0 ( +0 / -0 )

She is conservative. If she goes back to LDP, she will. have more chance to straighten national policy and she can replace Asia's the Vice prime minister.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

A skilled politician. She minimized her damage.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I wouldn't count on it. Have you seen how few politicians there are in the Diet (with only two in the cabinet) and Japan continuing to drop down the international rankings for gender equality despite all Abe's puffery about the empowerment of women?

It'd be foolish to count out the first woman governor of Tokyo before the bell rings, wouldn't it?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Even thou most comments here appear to be negative and sarcastic, I'm genuinely sad that she was unable to do a better job.

Jiminto must disappear, or this country will never have a real democracy. But the problem is that it appears as if all opposition is more inept or worse than Jiminto.

Yes, from a superficial level Kibo had a very similar agenda than that of Jiminto, but there were very subtle yet significant differences, like the fact that Kibo was actually pro LGBT, while Jiminto is still anti LGBT.

Japan in one of the few countries that have an HDI above 0.9 that still doesn't recognize LGBT people, and where there isn't even any discussion about it. There were some news of a few cities accepting partnerships, but these are completely meaningless, since they are not law, and they cannot be legally enforced.

Having one of those "partnerships" is as useful as just writing by yourself in a paper "I'm married".

Also, and that was one thing that Kibo was running on, cronyism in Japan is rampant. Jiminto connected businessmen and companies get money and benefits from the government.

Also, there isn't really any right wing or even centrist party in Japan that is not full of crazy people. Ishin seems at times almost like a libertarian alternative at the surface, with novel ideas like the Doshu system (dividing the country on states with a higher level of autonomy), but when you go deep you see that most of these people are just crazy ethnic nationalists.

Sadly, Kibo no to in the end just became an insipid party that seemed to stand for nothing else than to win elections, which is why they lost.

Left-wing parties in Japan continue to suffer from the "Anti-japanese" stigma placed over their heads by Jiminto and the "Incompetent" stigma from their own rule from 2009-2012.

Minshuto is remembered as the party that promised so much, and ended up doing nothing.

Things that seemed straight forward like "Making the highway system free" never happened, and in the end, even if the incompetence of Minshuto doesn't justify Jiminto's inaction, for many voters having ambiguous promises that mean nothing is more attractive than concrete promises that won't be fulfilled.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Someone wrote in the wrong kanji for the Koike's new party. More like "詭謀の党".

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Smart long play move. Stay out of the fringes and divided opposition, then back to the party in power, on track for the top job. Wouldn't be surprised if the glass ceiling shall have been shattered in the Land of the Rising Sun within a decade.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

She will be able to help LDP conservative direction. At least she does not have Also type big mouth. She has more experience in SDF commanding than Onodera. Abe needs her to face N Korea and Trump feud.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

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