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Hi Blog. As is by now tradition on Debito.org, we offer a briefing on the recent Japanese Lower House election in a way that is germane to our Readers — with analysis on angles affecting our lives in Japan that might not otherwise be covered. For the record, I do this as a college-degree holder in Political Science with decades of interest (and training) in Japanese political processes. I also have great interest in this field (especially in Hokkaido politics, because I know many of the politicians due to working with them from the Otaru Onsens Case onwards). I’ll skip the basics of how Japan’s political system is structured (you can get that from here) and go straight to the analysis:
DEBITO.ORG ELECTION SPECIAL DECEMBER 2014
In the Japanese media run-up to this election, there was enough narrative of doomsaying for opponents to PM Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), what with Japan’s Left in disarray and Japan’s Right ascendant after 2013’s electoral rout. The LDP was to “win big by default” in a “landslide victory”.
The day after the election, we can say that yes, Abe won, but “big” is a bit of a relative term when you look at the numbers. (All figures, as always, are sourced from major Japanese sources such as the Asahi and the Yomiuri Shinbuns, as of Monday December 14, 2014, 6AM JST. All possible “spins” are mine.)
THE SUMMARY: LDP WINS, BUT NOT SURPRISINGLY
Let’s take a look at Asahi’s excellent electoral map and make some observations (click on image to expand in browser):
This map of Japan by prefecture shows a lot of blue seats (signifying the LDP/Koumeitou Souka Gakkai alliance), demonstrating that the LDP held most of its seats. (Notable exception: Okinawa, which said “none of the above”, refusing to elect a single LDP, Koumeitou (KMT), or Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) candidate, and putting a Communist at the top.)
However, the LDP did not increase its seats — according to the table under the bar chart, the LDP went from 293 to 291 seats, meaning it lost 2. The bigger winner was ally party KMT, which went from 31 to 35, thus increasing the ruling coalition’s hold over the Lower House by two seats to 326.
I suspect that this may be due to the postwar record low turnout this election, as KMT has an excellent “get-out-the-vote” mechanism within its Souka Gakkai religious followers. (KMT also tells its followers which people to vote for, so as to split their votes efficiently in multiple-seat constituencies; i.e., they don’t mostly vote for one and only get one candidate in instead of both). A lower voter turnout means a higher proportion of the total voting KMT in an election.
So my read of this election is LDP didn’t lose, but they didn’t win astoundingly big, either. That said, they’re still big enough in the Diet to have a supermajority and override any Upper House vetoes (unlikely anyway, as the Upper House is also in the LDP’s hands after 2013’s election).
OTHER WINNERS AND LOSERS
The other big winner was the Japan Communist Party, which went from 8 seats to 21. This was due I believe to the lack of a viable opposition Left and people wanting to put their protest vote somewhere in this election. The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the ruling party from 2009 until 2012 when they were soundly dismissed from office in a landslide LDP victory, also picked up seats (73, up from 62). So there was a significant protest vote against Abe, but not nearly enough to stem any of Abe’s future plans. More on those in a minute.
The big loser, however, was far-right racist xenophobe MPs Hiranuma Takeo and Ishihara Shintaro’s Jisedai no Tou (the alleged Party for Future Generations). They plummeted from 19 seats to 2! Thus, fortunately their foreigner-bashing policy planks and their anti-NJ policy proposals did not pay off. These geriatrics had split off from the younger-looking far-right Ishin no Tou (Japan “Innovation” Party, most famously represented by charismatic Osaka Mayor Hashimoto Touru), which also lost one seat to become 41, but didn’t lose bigger allegedly due to a last-minute rally to get out the Proportional Representation (hireiku) vote.
CANDIDATES OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO DEBITO.ORG READERS
In Tokyo, we had two fortunate losses from the Right and one close shave for the Left.
First, for the Left, former Prime Minister Kan Naoto of the DPJ lost his seat in the popular vote to the local LDP candidate in Tokyo 18-ku. He was, however, resurrected in the Proportional Representation vote, so he’s still in. However, the DPJ’s current party head, Kaieda Banri, lost his seat.
On the other hand, far-rightists such as remilitarist Tamogami Toshio (who ran under the Jisedai no Tou banner) did not get elected. In fact, Tamogami ended up at the very bottom of the pile for his electoral district in Tokyo 12-ku. Clearly he overestimated his popular appeal (not hard to do, given how disproportionately noisy his supporters are; further, he got 611,000 votes in the last Tokyo Governor’s election), garnering only 39,233 votes. We haven’t seen the last of this creep, but this might give people a reality check about how far Rightism can go.
Now check out what happened to former Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro. He will now retire from Japanese politics ignominiously as the person who gave up his bully pulpit as the Tokyo Governor in 2012, in a now ill-considered bid to secure greater power as a Dietmember. He also ended up at the very bottom of the pile this time in his party’s Proportional Representation votes, which is quite a shameful way for a man of this stature and history to go. Good riddance to you, sir.
CONCLUSIONS
In sum, the Far-Right (Jisedai) suffered most in this election, while the Far-Left (JCP) picked up more protest votes than the Center-Left (DPJ). My read is that disillusioned Japanese voters, if they bothered to vote at all, saw the LDP/KMT as possibly more centrist in contrast to the other far-right parties, and hedged their bets. With the doomsaying media awarding Abe the election well in advance, why would people waste their vote on a losing party unless they felt strongly enough about any non-issue being put up this election?
Nevertheless, the result will not be centrist. With this election, Japan’s lurch to the Right has been complete enough to become normalized. PM Abe will probably be able to claim a consolidated mandate for his alleged fiscal plans, but in reality his goals prioritize revising Japan’s “Peace Constitution” and eroding other firewalls between Japan’s “church and state” issues (e.g., Japan’s remilitarization, inserting more Shinto/Emperor worship mysticism in Japan’s laws, requiring more patriotism and “love of country” in Japan’s education curriculum, and reinforcing anything Japan’s corporatists and secretive bureaucrats don’t want the public to know as “state secrets”).
All of this bodes ill for NJ residents of Japan, as even Japanese citizens who have “foreign experiences” are to be treated as suspicious (and disqualified for jobs) in areas that the GOJ deems worthy of secrecy. And as Dr. Jeff Kingston at Temple University in Japan notes, even the guidelines for determining what falls into that category are secret. Nevertheless, it is clear that diversity of opinion, experience, or nationality/ethnicity is not what Japan’s planners want for Japan’s future. Dr. ARUDOU, Debito
13 comments on “DEBITO.ORG ELECTION SPECIAL DECEMBER 2014: A clear LDP victory, normalizing Japan’s Rightward swing”
Hello Dr. Debito!
I’m glad to see your opinion on the election matches my own.
If I may, I’d like to throw some ideas out there, and see what others think.
Firstly, let’s not forget that the 2012 election had a record low turn-out. Abe wasn’t setting Japan’s voters on fire. This year is a new record low, down by several percentage points. The vast majority of voters stayed at home. The extent to which all parties are failing to offer these stay-at-home voters anything that they can engage with shows how clearly the system is broken.
It is also interesting to note that the number of early votes by post were at a record high. Also, that the Komeito secured more seats. I would propose that the Komeito sensed that a larger LDP win would see the end of coalition government, and an end to their ‘power’. I suggest that the Komeito’s huge organizational infrastructure may be responsible for mobilizing greater numbers of it’s supporters to not only vote strategically, but to vote by post if they couldn’t be bothered to get off their butts (a move, I might also suggest) that the LDP are rueing, since no doubt the heavy, unexpected snowfall at the weekend must have led many of their rural base to stay at home.
With the LDP finally stealing a ‘win’ with around a quarter of the votes that could have been cast by the voting population, it would take a delusional man, or bare-faced liar, to stand up and claim that this is any kind of meaningful mandate. Unfortunately, Abe is such a man.
Ah, Abe. What will he do now?
I have no doubt that he has already told Obama over the phone, that his now fresh four years of election free rule will give him the time he needs to (finally) use the (rusting) ‘third arrow’ of reforms, and join TPP. After all, all those soon to become disenfranchised rural LDP voters will have no forum to complain if he does, and by the time the next election comes, (especially if he fixes the vote disparity issue), those angry former-farmers, will be replaced by new urban supporters, grateful for the boom that Abenomics has brought them.
This is all of course, hot air.
It will never happen.
Yes, Abe has four years without an national election, but there is a leadership of the LDP election in Sept 2015, so any word that he really will join TPP will see rural LDP supporters threaten to revolt, and their local politicians will gang up on Abe for a change in LDP leadership.
So, clearly, there will be no meaningful ‘third-arrow’, and the TPP negotiations will drag on as long as Abe can manage.
Abe was quoted this morning in the Japan Times as already saying that this win gives him the power to move forward with his constitutional agenda. This is what will happen.
He will tell anyone that will listen (and the state broadcaster will ram it down the publics throats), that this election is proof that the people of Japan want ‘more of the same’.
More trips to Yasakuni.
More denial of war-crimes.
More antagonizing the region.
More ramming through policy without consulting the people (nuclear power stations are next!).
More police state laws.
More to weakened ¥.
More to less purchasing power and value of savings.
More to ‘Abenomics needs more time to work’.
Recently, some Japanese I know have actually said that they are afraid a big LDP win would lead to Abe remilitarizing Japan. I was surprised- the same people laughed at my fears of Abe’s right-wing agenda. I think that Colin Jones was right, it’s not a lack of participation in the election due to ignorance- but rather that almost half of the electorate chose not to vote since they couldn’t see a difference in the parties; almost all parties equally failed to address the issues that concerned them. Except the JCP. ‘Communist’ in pretty much name only, in a country where those who disagree with anything are labelled ‘anti-Japanese’, or ‘communist’ by the right-wing, they have done well to increase their number of seats considering the handicap that their party name gives them.
JCP wins are a sign of increasing discontent with Abe, and the lack of alternatives the mainstream parties are offering.
Nice to see that Ishihara lost out and that his party was almost wiped-out. But this is a small consolation given that his voters are most likely to have gone over to the LDP since Abe is right-wing enough for them.
We should expect four years of things getting worse.
It will be difficult for Abe to maintain support as people’s standards of living drop. His win could indeed spell the end of the LDP as we know it. I would posit that dissatisfaction will grow. Some party somewhere will realize that if they offer the stay-at-home voters something different, they could take power. I imagine that Tamogami will be back with an even more extreme right-wing agenda, and form a party on the remains of Ishihara’s followers. The LDP will, after 3 years, grow wary of the risk of losing their seats, and sek to replace Abe with a more moderate leader…
Or, Abe will now impose a Zinbabwe style police state regime to match the country’s Zimbabwe style economic situation. Dissenters will, unseen by the public and the media, start to ‘disappear’. The only message will be the official message: ‘Everything is fine. Abe love’s Japan. Please go about your dreamy day, and leave the ‘big issues’ to the ‘erai hito”. Economic collapse will create the dissatisfied and unruly unemployed that will give Abe the excuse he needs to reintroduce conscription; it will teach those youngsters to ‘love the beautiful country’.
Abe’s Japan = North Korea + shopping.
There has been some insightful reports on the Beeb this weekend.
One by Linda Yueh in her 30min weekly reports this week because of the election focused on Japan. She interviewed several people during her report. One interview was with 2 Japanese economists, one was Takuji Okubo, Chief Economist of Japan’s Macro Advisers. What he said was very interesting. He said that the 3rd arrow was a mere PR Stunt by the Govt. and doesn’t believe anything will happen, period (unquote) it is just talk. In addition he said that Abe never used the term Structural Reform as publicised by foreign media. He only ever uses the term “growth strategy”. There were several other revealing interviews. It seems some are now slowly saying what they know rather than what they are “told” to say. Makes a change form the usual oh yes all is ok type interview and accepted by the report!
Finally Rupert Wingfield Hayes is doing a bit better. This one on the role of women in Japan:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30444579
He also did one on Saturday stating is Abe if he wins going to:-
1) focus on the economy and rela reforms
or
2) Take Japan down the militarist route and ignore the sins of its past and attempt to rewrite history as he’s tinkered with so far, alienating its neighbours..
@ Jim,Japan + shopping =China.Such is the irony. But then Hitler and Stalin opposed each other despite being quite similar too.”Love the beautiful country” is EXACTLY what China is trying to force Hong Kong to adopt recently, through the (temporarily shevlved “national education)”hence the huge Occupy Central demonstrations.Where are the corresponding Japanese counter demonstrations? Or does a large number of society tacitly support the LDP?
Yes, the “normalizing” of the right, and Japan, has been achieved. This means,
1. An unspoken establishment rightism, not outwardly racist like Ishihara
2. Thus, a return to the conservatism of the 80s, or at least nostalgia for those days
3. A lack of interest in politics by the majority of the population, again, how 80s
4. Clearly defined and rigid job and gender roles, unlike the 90s bohemian flirtation
5. As in #4, salrymanism dominates instead of entrepreneurialism and thus back to…
6. The Erai Hito (The Abes, Asos, and all the other political dynasties) know best
7. JCP as the only real protest vote (I remember this from conversations with factory workers in Kawasaki in 1991 who candidly said it was the only non establishment party).
Full Circle, back to the 80s or even the 70s.
Thanks for analysis. What this suggests to me is there is a huge void in Japanese politics and large number of disaffected Japanese voters waiting for something to come and fill it. Nature abhors a vacuum, so let’s hope something genuinely fresh evolves to fill the niche.
PS. Seems the JCP really should change their name to Green or something as their policies don’t deserve being tarred with the communist label any longer.
Thanks for analysis. What this suggests to me is there is a huge void in Japanese politics and large number of disaffected Japanese voters waiting for something to come and fill it. Nature abhors a vacuum, so let’s hope something genuinely fresh evolves to fill the niche.
PS. Seems the JCP really should change their name to Green or something as their policies don’t deserve being tarred with the communist label any longer.
— Oh I don’t know. Organizationally it’s very Leninist. They still believe in “democratic centralism” (i.e., where feedback is generated upwards to the Central Committee (yes, the chuo iinkai), and once a motion is adopted, no divergence from the top-down view is permitted), moreover expressions of individual points of view from JCP representatives are never allowed (try asking a JCP rep a question and you’ll get referred back to the CC’s written decision on the matter — or you’ll have to wait for one for however long it takes; again, we found that out when asking for their stance on the Otaru Onsens Case). Plus the JCP never gives stump speeches except through their party leader and never gets involved in coalitions with other parties (they don’t even go out for drinks with outsiders). It’s also not going to change its name because it’s Japan’s oldest political party (older, yes, than even the LDP, by a long shot), so. The JCP is Old Faithful in terms of structure and expression. To be sure, they have some very smart and dedicated people who see sense on a lot of issues (especially regarding NJ issues). It’s just not what I would call “democratic” in the way it conducts itself, and would seek to do the same to the rest of Japan’s government if it ever came into power.
And now, back to regular programming:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/abe-pledges-to-rewrite-constitution-instill-patriotism-in-schools
“Abe vows to rewrite constitution, instill patriotism in schools
TOKYO —
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday vowed he would try to persuade a skeptical public of the need to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution, the day after scoring a thumping election victory.
Abe, who was re-elected by a landslide in Sunday’s polls, pledged to pursue his nationalist agenda while promising to follow through on much-needed economic reforms.
“Revising the constitution… has always been an objective since the Liberal Democratic Party was launched,” Abe told reporters. “I will work hard to deepen people’s understanding and receive wider support from the public.”
Abe’s desire to water down Japan’s constitution, imposed by the U.S. after the end of World War II, has proved divisive at home and strained already tense relations with China.
His attempt earlier this year was abandoned, with the bar of a two-thirds parliamentary majority and victory in a referendum thought too high.
The conservative leader has also said he wants reforms to education that would instill patriotism in schoolchildren and urges a more sympathetic retelling of Japan’s wartime misdeeds.
His ruling LDP and its junior partner Komeito swept the ballot on Sunday with a two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament.
The coalition won a combined 326 of the 475 seats, crushing the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Their slightly-improved tally of 73 did not include leader Banri Kaieda, who fell on his sword on Monday.
Abe is expected to reappoint a broadly similar cabinet after he is formally named prime minister again by the lower house on Dec 24.
He insisted the election had been a necessary plebiscite on his big-spending, easy-money policies, known as Abenonmics, although critics said the record low turnout of around 52% tarnished his mandate.
“We must go ahead with Abenomics swiftly, this is exactly what has been shown in the vote. We have to respond to that,” Abe said, pledging to “compile an economic stimulus package immediately, within this year”.
The 60-year-old stormed to power in 2012, pledging to revive the animal spirits of Japan’s flagging economy with a blend of monetary easing, government spending and structural reforms to cut red tape.
The printing presses at the Bank of Japan have run hot ever since, pushing down the value of the yen—to the delight of exporters—and giving the stock market a huge boost, as stimulus programs have provided an economic shot in the arm.
But Abe has shied away from tough reforms that economists say are vital if Japan is to get back on a firm footing, including employment deregulation and tackling the entrenched interests of the agriculture lobby.
A sales tax rise in April snuffed out consumer spending, sending Japan into the two negative quarters of growth that make a recession.
“From now on, he has to show results in line with his promises,” said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research institute.
“If he fails to improve the economy, his political capital will be reduced easily. A crucial phase is still ahead.”
On the diplomatic front, his election victory may temper frayed relations with China, which has painted him as a dangerous revisionist, said Gerald Curtis, a veteran Japan watcher and professor at Columbia University
Relations began to thaw last month after more than two years of chill, which Beijing blamed on Abe’s provocative nationalism, including a visit to a war shrine and equivocations on Japan’s wartime record of enslaving women for sex.
Beijing said it had “noted” the outcome of the election, and offered a familiar call for Japan to “learn its lessons from history (and) play a constructive role in regional peace and stability”.
“In the short-term, at least, Sino-Japanese relations are on a better track… signals coming from Beijing and from Abe (are aimed at trying) to improve the relationship,” Curtis said.
Masaru Kohno, a politics professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, said despite his professed desire to retell the history of Japan’s aggressive warring—an instinct largely unshared by the Japanese public—Abe will be pragmatic.
“Many of the issues Japan is facing such as depopulation and women’s advancement should be resolved with liberal policies,” he said.
© 2014 AFP”
Well it looks like not much has changed, Abe just wasted $700 million in tax-payers money, and got rewarded with extra 2 years in office. Pretty disgraceful. The people lost, while Jimin-to pretty much “won”.
Communist Party is pretty much useless, and will likely not do much other than complain about Jimin-to even more vigorously with their renewed confidence of having gained amazing 20 seats. The only good thing that came out of this is that Jisedai lost big time, and Minshu-to gained slightly. All in all, a waste of tax-payers money and time. This would not have happened in other countries. There would probably be a big protest against Jiminto. If only the Japanese media told people the truth about Jiminto.
It will be interesting to see what Abe will do with his 4 years in office. Things do not look good, but at least this will probably be the very last term of Jiminto in power. Next term, there will be an entire coalition of all the opposition parties that are against Jiminto, and Jiminto will be in shambles. Approval rating for Abe/Jiminto will likely be plummeted by then. So will the Japanese economy, probably, thanks to the failures of Abenomics. So things do not look so good from now on, but on the other hand, there will likely be yet another major change in power.
@ John (Yokohama) #5
Didn’t take him long, did it?
It strikes me as strange that there was no mainstream debate of Abe’s nationalist ideas before the election, and no discussion in civil society at large. Now, these nationalist aims that were never discussed during this election that was a ‘referendum on Abenomics’, will be the main policy features of this government. They were never spelled out to the people, and not all of the 24% that chose the LDP could have been aware that this was what they were voting for.
Now they will get the government that they deserve.
After Abegeddon, I hope that the media and the people will learn that it is important to ask potential leaders the hard questions before an election. But I think that Abe’s imperial-era ambitions will have to run their course, and the Japanese people will have to feel the suffering and pain that he will give them first.
@John ,that Japan Today article is a bit odd, e.g. “Banri Kaieda, who fell on his sword”, “Abe…pledges to revive the animal spirits”- is someone having a sly dig at J-traditions here? Did Banri actually commit seppuku?
Also, as Dr D points out, its not really a “landslide” as LDP lost a few seats- I just wonder if and fear that Komeito might go along with the constituional revisionism this time, hope not and that they deny Abe the two thirs majority needed to do so.
Saddened also by Dr D’s expose of the JCP. It seems almost none of the parties in Japan are really democratic, except perhaps the DPJ- hence the name??
— I would never take offical names of organizations all that literally. Just think DPRK or DDR. But anyway, side point: “Fall on one’s sword” is an expression in English with Roman roots, not samurai.
So, Ishihara really was trying to provoke a war with China on the presumption that the USA would step in and win it for Japan;
“They asked me what I wanted to do most, so I told them that it’s to fight a war with China and win. I said that as a Japanese citizen,” he said.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/16/national/politics-diplomacy/ishihara-bows-wants-war-china-compares-hashimoto-young-hitler/
Oh, and Hashimoto’s great, like Hitler.
Doctor, this isn’t really about the election, but it is about Abe normalizing Japan’s right-ward swing;
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/08/national/overseas-work-study-seen-negative-point-anyone-handling-state-secrets/
You see, whilst Abe has been spouting hot air about increasing the number and quality of super-international universities in order to create Japanese citizens who can shine on the global stage, the secrecy law demands that those who have experience of living abroad, working for a foreign company, or have a lot of NJ friends, are a security risk, who should not handle secrets since they will leak them.
The logic of this is insane. Abe spent a year at a US university as an exchange student. Is he presumably now unable to handle secrets? If he asks unknowingly (in his capacity of PM doing his job) about a topic that has secretly been designated a ‘secret’, will he now be facing 10 years in prison without being told what request for information was criminal?
I sincerely doubt it.
So, this brings me to the point of my post. The real function of these rules will be that Japan becomes a more introverted, close-minded, and fascist society, run by, and protecting the small group of ‘elite’ families that are the root of all Japan’s problems. How, I hear you ask?
Well, consider that Japan’s near-future public servants (now only university students aspiring to be police, teachers, local government workers, and politicians) will be forced to ‘vet’ themselves or fail to fulfill their dreams. For fear of job application rejection, they won’t study abroad, they won’t hang with foreign students, maybe they will shun eikaiwa for fear of being blacklisted out of future public service.
What does that mean for NJ?
It means that outward looking and open-minded Japanese will shun these jobs, which will be staffed by those who have not been inoculated against brainwashing by all the anti-NJ media and NPA tripe through direct positive encounters with NJ, and committed xenophobes.
The apparatus of the state, down to the lowest level, will be composed of the most narrow minded types.
Aspiring politician? Forget it! After all, a future Japanese politician who has studied abroad, and has international friends could never be PM; it would be a security risk.
Economic and business leaders who form panels that advise the government? Well, they are sure to include those who have international experience and connections. Well, the government can just ignore their advice, and refuse to justify it’s insane policies, after all, it’s a secret that these business people might leak.
Japan is entering the most deeply intense era of navel-gazing since Perry arrived.
@Jim (#10) Sounds right, and I think that this government is actually making public what has always been the actual policy behind the “polite smile” – I doubt that up to now, the brightest, most open-minded people have been seeking out to become politicians, bureaucrats, or entrepreneurs in the current Japanese system, that’s the reason why Japanese “democracy” and also large parts of the economy are in this precarious state. It might sound cynical to some, but this new, “bolder” Japan might have the positive side effect of the rest of the world finally stop believing the myths and see Japan for what it really (still) is. Japan was allowed to hide behind its “tradition contrasted with quirky pop culture” for too long. It’s time the world understands that you can’t buy Hitachi / Toyota / Honda without supporting people who think you’re racially inferior to them.
But is it all that dramatic for NJ? At the risk of repeating myself, I think, “no, not at all”. In my opinion, there is no reason for NJ, and especially those from countries with a higher development than Japan, to live there, or even just visit.
If you’re after economic opportunities (even if it’s just “teaching English”), or adventure, or like to experience an “exotic” culture, then you should move your a** to China a.s.a.p.
You get to experience plenty of xenophobia and opaque power structures there also, but at least the opportunities are still real. And you can have some fresh vegetables in your diet now and then 😉
I didn’t expect any drama since this is nothing more than a dull card game. It’s only a couple of years since people had the Lower House election. I don’t care what kinds of puff LDP and Abe Cabinet members say about Abenomics. I’m more concerned with the constituent power of LDP-Komeito coalition that reached over 2/3 of overall seats(326 combined of all 475) in the Lower House. This means that it gives them a power to override the Upper House veto on the bills–regardless of public opinion.
Speaking of Jisedai no To, despite the dismal outcome, they surprisingly came in 5th for local constituency vote (947,395), which went ahead of Komeito(765,390 votes).
#12L
“…Speaking of Jisedai no To…”
“..Naturalize or get out, party tells jobless foreigners…..Foreigners could lose long-term access to social support if the conservative Jisedai no To (Party for Future Generations) has its way…”*
Did the JnoT win their seats on this mandate?
* http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/16/national/social-issues/naturalize-get-party-tells-jobless-foreigners/#.VJT7SV4ANg