Following the dissolution of the House of Representatives on Oct. 14, both the ruling and opposition parties need to firmly present to the public their visions for the administration and policies to deal with the challenges Japan faces.
In the coming lower house election, each party will enter a de facto election campaign. The 17 days from the dissolution of the lower house to the voting and ballot counting on Oct. 31 is the shortest duration allowed under the current Constitution.
This short-term election battle will determine the direction the nation should take. Each party must present a clear view on a wide range of issues, including novel coronavirus measures, economic revitalization, and foreign and security policies.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has made a "new type of capitalism" proposed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida a pillar of its campaign pledges for the lower house election. The pledges include tax incentives for companies that are willing to raise pay, and support for people affected by the coronavirus pandemic, including nonregular employees.
Although the LDP's election pledges stipulated investment in such growth sectors as robotics and semiconductors, the party has not presented any convincing policies to indicate how it will achieve a "virtuous cycle of economic growth and distribution of wealth." It is necessary to delve further into such things as specific measures, implementation timing and how financial resources will be secured.
Under the slogan "reviving the 100 million all-middle-class society," the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, has proposed such measures as temporary cuts in income and consumption taxes, and cash benefits for low-income earners. The CDPJ intends to strengthen taxation on wealthy people and large companies to redistribute wealth.
Wouldn't large-scale tax cuts require the issuance of large amounts of deficit-covering government bonds? It is irresponsible not to take into account the further deterioration of the national fiscal condition.
As the economy and society have been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, it is understandable that both the ruling and opposition parties are calling for measures for low-income earners and an expansion of the middle class. However, merely increasing the benefits may not lead to full-fledged economic revitalization.
It is important for the ruling and opposition parties to present realistic policies aimed at economic growth and income improvement.
The four opposition parties -- the CDPJ, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and Reiwa Shinsengumi -- have concluded policy agreements through a civic group on policies such as "abolishing unconstitutional parts of security-related legislation" and "pursuing a decarbonized society without nuclear power plants."
The policy agreements could be a leveraging tactic to prevent opposition parties from competing against each other in single-seat constituencies.
The Democratic Party for the People did not join the policy pact, citing a lack of agreement on such policies as security issues. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), a support group for the CDPJ, is also negative about cooperation that includes the JCP.
If the opposition parties win the election, CDPJ leader Yukio Edano said the CDPJ would not form a coalition government with the JCP, but would receive cooperation from the party "from outside the cabinet in a limited way."
If the CDPJ prioritizes victory in the elections and ignores its basic policies and principles, it will not be able to obtain the support of a wide range of people. Edano must provide a detailed explanation about the election cooperation with the JCP.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Oct. 14, 2021.
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