Although the reorganization of the opposition parties is still only partly completed, there is no denying that their creation of a new party is slapdash. It is essential for them to enhance their policy-making abilities to cross swords with the government, and to continue making efforts to win the trust of the people.
The Democratic Party (DP) and Kibo no To (Party of Hope) created a new party, the Democratic Party for the People. It is an assemblage of two out of the three parties -- the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), the DP and Kibo -- born through the DP's split-up last year.
The DP and Kibo agreed to form a joint parliamentary group in January, but this attempt stalled. As the leadership of the two parties forced the creation of the new party this time, only 62 people joined as inaugural members, out of the 107 lawmakers of the two parties prior to the new party's creation.
Within the DP, negative feelings were strong toward Kibo, which adopted the logic of "exclusion" in its endorsement of candidates to run for the House of Representatives election last year. Kibo was averse to the leftist forces of the DP.
The two parties failed to reconcile with each other, which was also partly due to insufficient ability on the part of the leadership of both parties. As the new party is still the No. 2 opposition party in the lower house, next to the CDPJ, it cannot even conduct negotiations with the ruling parties as the party representing the opposition parties.
Kohei Otsuka from the DP, who has become a coleader of the new party, said it will "aim at a change of government." He has his sights set on the creation of a new party with the CDPJ.
The idea of changing the present conditions of the opposition parties, which are considered as "many weak" parties, and forming an axis is understandable. The problem is that the new party's course of action in terms of policy has become opaque.
Build a strong foundation
Kibo, which reached a dead end in the seven-odd months after its founding, initially advocated "tolerant, reform-minded conservatism." It came up with a posture of approving the security-related laws, pledging that it would "depart from futile confrontation [with the ruling parties]."
Yet the new party has stipulated in its basic policies that regarding the security-related laws, it will "have those parts pointed out as unconstitutional totally retracted," thus taking a stance of reviewing the laws. Concerning constitutional amendment, the new party said it will create a future-oriented constitution, while it opposes having the Self-Defense Forces stipulated in Article 9.
The party seems to aim at bringing the CDPJ, which enjoys high approval ratings among the opposition parties, over to its side. But taking such a posture to find a way to survive by cozying up to a leftist line can hardly avoid being considered facile. If they just revive the defunct Democratic Party of Japan, no future can be opened up for the party.
Some conservative lawmakers of Kibo have taken over their party name of Kibo, thanks to the secession. There are also legislators who have become independents.
Considering the future state of the nation and challenging the government to a policy debate with realistic counterproposals. Creating solid local organizations and solidifying its foundations rather than depending on a "wind." Repeatedly pursuing steady activities is what the new party is called on to do.
The CDPJ and other opposition parties will end their boycott of the Diet deliberations, which has continued since the second half of April, and return to the Diet.
For opposition parties, it no longer holds water to refuse Diet deliberations, putting too much emphasis on displaying a confrontational stance toward the government. Each opposition party should think deeply about the fact that the nonattendance strategy has proved unproductive.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 8, 2018)
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