China News Service, July 21 (Guo Xinwei) On the 21st, the votes for the Japanese Senate election will be counted. This is the first parliamentary election since Japan entered the "Reiwa " era. It is regarded as a test for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to consolidate his congressional advantages and will also determine whether he can continue to promote constitutional amendments. During the election campaign, Abe went to the streets across the country to campaign hard.
On the other hand, the opposition party that hopes to challenge the " Liberal Democratic Party dominance" has launched a key offensive on constitutional amendments and economic and people's livelihood issues. At the same time, it has also proposed many unique policies, such as solving the problem of loneliness and giving Monday morning holidays etc., hoping to attract voters’ attention.
Data map: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
[How to conduct the Japanese Senate election? 】
The term of members of the Japanese Senate is six years. There are currently 242 seats, and about half are re-elected every three years. Three new seats were added in this election, leaving a total of 124 seats up for grabs. These include 74 seats in electoral districts and 50 seats in proportional districts.
Shinzo Abe previously mentioned the "win or lose line" for this Senate election, saying that he wanted to ensure a "majority" for the ruling coalition.
Among the other half of the seats in the Senate that do not need to be re-elected, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito ruling alliance have a total of 70 seats. Therefore, as long as the two parties win 53 of the 124 seats to be re-elected, they can guarantee to maintain their majority advantage in the Senate.
Many media, including the Asahi Shimbun, believe that the coalition government can "easily win a majority." Japan's Kyodo News predicted that the two parties "are likely to gain 77 seats."
Data map: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
[Parties work hard to promote, Abe is booed for election support]
Since the announcement of the election on July 4, the leaders of Japan’s ruling and opposition parties have gone to the streets across the country to support candidates and promote their own ideas. Shinzo Abe also traveled to many places to canvass votes, but he encountered some "episodes" during this period.
html On the 15th, Abe "canvassed votes" for Liberal Democratic Party candidates in Hokkaido Sapporo. However, during the speech, a man shouted "Abe resign quickly" and "go back" on the other side of the road about 20 meters away. In addition, there was a woman who shouted "against tax increase".Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" stated that during the eviction process, the police grabbed people's clothes and bodies and moved them back dozens of meters.
html On the 18th, in Shiga Prefecture Otsu City, another man uttered sarcastic words at Abe and was suppressed by about five police officers in suits at the fence under the station viaduct on one side of the venue.Regarding such practices, the police explained that "this is a measure aimed at preventing disputes and crimes, and the response is appropriate." However, some experts believe that it is "overly sensitive and has gone too far."
In November 2017, 40,000 Japanese people marched against the constitutional amendment. Photo by China News Service reporter Lu Shaowei
[These policies are the focus: amending the Constitution, economic issues]
- Want to amend the Constitution? Need to win more than two-thirds of the seats
Since Abe came to power, he has been trying to promote the revision of Japan's post-war pacifist constitution. He said in a previous interview: "Amending the constitution is a convention that the Liberal Democratic Party has always had. Let the Self-Defense Forces be written into this constitution so that they can play a more effective role."
In fact, for Shinzo Abe, ensuring a majority in the Senate This is just a "preliminary goal". The crucial battle is whether the "constitutional amendment forces" can maintain the two-thirds seats required in Congress to propose constitutional amendments.
"Constitutional revision forces" is a general term for the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito Party, Reform Council, various political groups, and non-party members who have a positive attitude toward constitutional revision under Abe's administration.
If they want to obtain more than two-thirds of the additional seats (164), the "constitutional revision forces" need to obtain a total of 85 seats. Japan's Kyodo News believes that based on current surveys, whether this goal can be achieved is "delicate."
- economic card! Both the ruling and opposition parties focus on
In addition to issues related to amending Japan's Constitution, each party has also launched key offensive and defensive issues on economic issues.
In his street speech, Shinzo Abe repeatedly emphasized the achievements of Abenomics, saying that "a GDP of 600 trillion yen (approximately RMB 37.9 trillion) economy" has been achieved, and tax revenue has reached a record high.
At the same time, the opposition parties are focusing on family economic support. Yukio Edano, leader of the Cadet Democratic Party, emphasized that "companies have made money, but they have not benefited the lives of the people." The National Democratic Party also proposed "family economics first."
On the other hand, a recent report from the Japan Financial Services Agency estimated that the couple would need 20 million yen in savings for their later years, which caused public uneasiness and attracted attention on whether the consumption tax rate should be raised to 10%, leading to debate among various parties.
Data map: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Japanese Senate.
[These policies are very unique: setting up a lonely prime minister and having Monday morning off]
In order to give full play to their own characteristics and spread propaganda to voters, the Japanese government and opposition parties have proposed some unique policies in addition to the main points of debate in their campaign promises for the Senate election. Such as establishing a loneliness department and increasing Monday morning holidays.
After proposing to create a "zero hay fever society" by transplanting saplings in the 2016 Senate election and the 2017 House of Representatives election, the Liberal Democratic Party continued to propose this idea this year.
Komeito emphasized the need to promote the introduction of "a system of obtaining paid annual leave on an hourly basis" in private enterprises. In order to expand consumption at the beginning of the weekend and the beginning of the week, the party also wrote in the content of popularizing Monday morning as a holiday.
The National Democratic Party stated that "no one will be lonely!" and proposed the creation of a minister responsible for loneliness. In addition, the campaign promise also stated that "Solve the problem of insufficient data by supporting the setting up of WiFi hotspots!"
The Japan Reform Association proposed to promote the individual number card system to enable voting in convenience stores in the future. The Cadets advocate lowering the voting age to 20 and call for the establishment of a "election leave system." The Communist Party advocates the abolition of "black school rules" such as forcing students to dye their hair black. The Social Democrats advocate a "dad quota system" that would allocate part of parental leave to fathers.
In this regard, Junichi Takase, professor of information politics at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, said: "Voters must see clearly how realistic these promises are and whether they are key policies that should be discussed in national affairs."
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