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The Democratic Party for the People may cooperate on policies with the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba but will not join the framework outright, its chief said Tuesday after the opposition party surged in influence after the weekend's general election.
Japan faces political uncertainty as the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito, which lost their majority in the powerful House of Representatives, must seek support from opposition parties and independents to pass bills and run a stable government.
"We will do our utmost to realize our policies. We are not entering the coalition," DPP leader Yuichiro Tamaki told a press conference.
Tamaki said DPP officials at different levels have been in contact with their counterparts in the LDP and other opposition parties over whether and how to cooperate.
He sounded positive about holding talks with Ishiba and Yoshihiko Noda, who heads the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, saying he will not refuse to do so if requested.
The DPP quadrupled its seats from seven to 28 in Sunday's election, which saw the ruling bloc secure 215, short of the majority line of 233. The CDPJ won 148 seats.
In a Kyodo News survey conducted after the election, 53 percent of respondents said they do not want the LDP-Komeito government to remain after their election defeat, against 38.4 percent of those in favor.
Ishiba, who heads the LDP, has dismissed the idea of expanding the ruling coalition now but said he was open to working with opposition parties on a policy-by-policy basis.
"If the ruling bloc sticks to the same ideas and playbook on decision-making, it will be difficult to maintain the government because they don't have a majority. We want them to listen humbly to the voices of the people," Tamaki said.
Still, the DPP will not be unnecessarily confrontational, Tamaki said, adding, "If the opposition tries to block everything, we can't keep the country going."
The ruling coalition lost majority control of the 465-member lower house for the first time in 15 years.
Both the LDP and the CDPJ are expected to accelerate efforts to secure support for their own leaders to become the next prime minister in the days ahead.
Tamaki said his fellow DPP lawmakers would vote for him, when parliament selects the next Japanese prime minister during a special session next month.
If no one receives majority support in the lower house, now a possibility after the election, the vote to choose the next prime minister will go to a runoff between the top two contenders, likely Ishiba and Noda.
Tamaki's stance can be taken as de-facto approval for Ishiba because voting for candidates other than the top two would be invalid in the runoff.
"Even if we vote for Mr. Noda, we cannot compete with the LDP-Komeito coalition" in terms of votes, Tamaki said.
Tamaki's party prioritizes boosting people's incomes. It stresses the need for fiscal spending and easy monetary policy to achieve wage growth above the rate of inflation.
One of its top priorities is to raise the income threshold for people to start paying tax on their earnings to 1.78 million yen ($11,600) from the current 1.03 million yen.
© KYODO
12 Comments
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dagon
Abenomics/New Capitalism deja vu.
More 'urging' to Keidanren to raise wages, more corporate subsidies and welfare, and QE basic income for large asset holders.
Zero new policies from the last 20 years.
sakurasuki
Linkup is that for pragmatically reason or philosophical reason?
MarkX
Tamaki thinks he is sitting in the drivers seat holding all the cards, but just wait, this will backfire on him. His party and the LDP have nothing in common, and his election promises were so egregious cutting the sales tax, lowering income taxes, free education. Nice ideas but where does the money come from? Japan has the highest debt in the world!
The LDP will use him and then discard him when the time is right! Enjoy your 15 minutes Mr. Tamaki!
quercetum
You can vote LDP or you can vote for the opposition. Doesn’t matter because we’ll link up anyways in the end.
Mike_Oxlong
Hey electorate...psych! We don't really stand for anything. Now we're making deals at the big boys' table.
socrateos
This has been the best election year for me!
In July, Yuriko Koike won the Tokyo Governor's seat.
In September, Yoshihiko Noda won the CDP party leadership.
In October, Shigeru Ishiba won the LDP party leadership.
A few days ago, many politicians from the Abe faction of the LDP lost their Lower House seats.
There’s still one more important election this year: the U.S. Presidential election.
If Trump loses, this election year will be perfect.
piskian
Quite Pythonesque.
Eastmann
follow the money...Tamaki have deep and partly empty pockets...
almakukac
This goes to show how delusional these guys really are. Let me tell you a secret Tamaki: the country is running despite all the lunatics sitting in the Diet, not because of!
isabelle
You still don't understand this democracy stuff, do you?
1) The LDP won the most seats, and it gets a chance to build a coalition/informal support.
2) The main "opposition" you speak of is the CDPJ, and it will very likely not enter a coalition/link up with the LDP.
3) Whatever the ruling bloc/informal arrangement ends up being, if it doesn't do well the people will vote them out next time and someone else will try.
(Well, I guess it's too much to expect fervent readers of Xi Jinping Thought to understand the basics of democracy.)
deanzaZZR
You might be more likable if you got off your moral high horse. Ah, who am I kidding, probably not.
itsonlyrocknroll
There has to be clear quantifiable political change, enabling kick starting comprehensive promised reform.
Employment, taxation, depopulation, childcare, health, education. point that finger
An essential voter demand is political reform, starting with a full independent public inquiry into pollical funding, this toxic LDP slush fund scandal.
The LDP-Komeito coalition does not possess either a mandate, or the public confidence to govern.
Democratic Party for the People head Yuichiro Tamaki could make the situation totally untenable, recklessly propping up unstable government.
A government rejected by J electorate, deemed through the corrupt use of political slush funds, years of failures in office to enact policy promises pledges.
The LDP in its current guise is unfit to lead.
Any mucky back room deals, would politically be akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.
I mean seriously! Yes!
This is it, it is useless to pretend a political escape route is available.
The parrot is dead, it is a dead parrot, political rigor mortis has set in, gluing the parrot back up on its perch wont bring tweety pie back to life