Editorial: Upper house election should be opportunity to reflect on Japan’s democracy

Official campaigning for Japan’s July 10 House of Councillors election began on June 21. It has been over eight months since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office, and attention is focused on how voters will evaluate his administration’s achievements. The main points at issue include how to deal with consumer price hikes and the yen’s depreciation.

However, there is another element that we should not forget to put in perspective. That is, the upcoming election will take place in the midst of serious global concern that democracy is in a state of crisis, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

After the invasion, debate between Japan’s ruling and opposition parties tended to focus on the question of whether the nation’s defense capability is reliable. However, we have faced another reality — that those in power can spiral out of control in the absence of opposing parties.

On the other hand, is Japan’s democratic politics properly functioning today? The July 10 upper house election will be an opportunity for each voter to examine this question themselves.

— Kishida government’s vision unclear

Since the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s leadership contest last autumn, Kishida has repeatedly stated, “Our country’s democracy has fallen into a crisis.” What he means by crisis is that the “Japanese people’s voices are not reaching politics.”

He has vowed to push forward politics that values “trust and empathy” with the public, which seems to be from a reflection of the past administrations of former prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga, who were known for high-handed management of Diet affairs against a backdrop of the LDP’s solid majority with the help of coalition partner Komeito.

However, it may well be said that while Prime Minister Kishida has touted the administration as being attentive and all ears, this attitude has mainly been directed at listening to the voices within the LDP. When making decisions on Japan’s core issues, including how to move forward with fiscal reconstruction and increasing its defense budget, there have noticeably been scenes where Kishida paid heed to claims made by Abe and other figures.

In his campaign pledge during the LDP leadership race, Kishida proposed to expand the financial income tax as a centerpiece policy aiming for a shift away from neoliberalism. However, this faced opposition within the LDP, and was immediately shelved.

At this point, it has become uncertain whether there is a difference between Kishida’s signature “new capitalism” policy and the “Abenomics” economic policy package.

If the upcoming upper house election goes well, Kishida will be able to continue to head the administration. Unless the House of Representatives is dissolved, a national election may not take place for the next three years.

When viewing the LDP’s public commitment, there are many policies whose details will supposedly be worked out after the House of Councillors election. This is as if the ruling party is asking the Japanese people to give them a carte blanche to govern the country.

Meanwhile, opposition parties will enter the election while remaining in a state of bringing each other down. There was a great fall in the number of cases where opposition parties were able to put forward unified candidates in constituencies where one seat each is contested. The results of the 32 such constituencies across Japan decide the fate of the election.

In the previous Diet session, the Democratic Party for the People approved the government’s budget for the new fiscal year. The conservative opposition Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin) has also been closely following the LDP, while the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) has been seeing low support rates. Cooperation between the CDP and the Japanese Communist Party, which was seen during the lower house election last autumn, has been limited for the upcoming race.

Kishida has been showing excessive consideration to the situation within the LDP, while opposition parties cannot fulfill their roles of strictly checking the government’s policies. The presence of the National Diet, which represents the people, has grown weaker and weaker.

— The spread of unquestioning members in Japanese society

A nationwide opinion poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun found that 42% of respondents wanted opposition parties to gain seats in the upcoming election, exceeding the 37% who said the same for the ruling coalition.

This must be an indication that more than a few voters think that the Diet should not remain the way it is now, and feel the need for a parliament that has a good amount of tension with ruling and opposition parties having influence on par with one another.

The problem is whether such sentiments are actually linked with the act of voting.

Voting is a foundation that supports democracy. However, turnout for the previous upper house election was 48.8%, falling short of 50%, and recorded the second worst figure in history. Even the lower house election, which took place last autumn amid speculation that people felt closer to politics during the coronavirus pandemic, had a turnout of 55.9% — the third lowest figure that was recorded since World War II.

The LDP has secured a large majority of seats in both the upper and lower houses, with support from about a quarter of all voters. Lately, it has been out of the question to criticize the government, and there is a tendency in Japanese society to shy away from talking about politics itself, as it would “disrupt the mood.”

Even though allowing diversity is a basic aspect of democracy, society today tends to pit people against one another based on whether they show support or are against the administration.

There have also been views that rather than democratic politics, which takes time to reach an agreement, an authoritarian regime like China is more efficient for economic development. Such tendencies should be viewed as a crisis of democracy.

On the occasion of the upcoming election, we should ask ourselves whether we want to place our trust in the ruling coalition, or whether we want opposition powers to gain power. After thoroughly considering such questions, the Japanese public must go to the polls. It’s time to break with the idea that it’s OK to leave politics only in the hands of politicians.