Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
administration. This move towards establishing a two-party system had begun
in 1996 when the new single-member constituency and the proportional
representation system took e
ect. The system of single-seat constituencies and
proportional representation enacted under Prime Minister Hosokawa Mor-
ihiro in 1993 meant to usher in a new two-party system. The belief was that
the new system would make parties and policies the focal point, giving rise to
a new two-party system. Of course a two-party system had in e
ect been in
place since 1955, when left-wing parties grouped together into the Japanese
Socialist Party (JSP) and right-wing parties into the LDP. It was just that the
left had never succeeded in taking power (cf. Christensen 2000). What argu-
ably happened after the change in 1996 was the strengthening of a
'
system in which the issues confronting an individual politician, most closely
aware of the needs of his or her constituency, came above party policies that
addressed national issues. On the other hand, party politics obviously still
mattered, as in the 2009 election; it was almost impossible to lose when backed
by Minshut - , equated as it was in the media with a popular movement that
would change Japan and bring in a new way of politics.
Had there then been an increased focus on policies to judge parties in this
election? Some people associated the high voter turnout (69.28%) partly with
the now more established practice of manifestos (seiken k - yaku), which had
come into its own in 2003 and aimed at binding a party to its pledges. The
policies of Minshut - were seen to be closer to people
'
local
'
-
cash-hand-outs
to families and farmers, toll-free expressways, easing the gasoline tax, toge-
ther with a promise not to increase the current 5% consumption tax (VAT),
policies that were all to prove unachievable. No easy solution presented itself
to the huge de
s daily life
cit in the pension system, which was on the brink of collapse
with a rapidly ageing population and fewer working people to pay for it.
Without an increase in funds from unpopular tax hikes or rising insurance
payments, the whole system would likely collapse within the next
ve years.
The frustration and anxiety about such fundamental dilemmas, largely pre-
sented as the doing of the ruling block, was laid out on a populist platform
with promises of expanding social welfare without increasing taxes. A see-
mingly impossible feast, yet the 2009 House of Representatives clearly
became seen as a choice between maintaining the old LDP-Komeito coalition
with promises of more of the same or to vote in a newMinshut - -led government
with promises of real change.
After the dissolution of the Lower House, Minshut - announced its alliance
with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Kokumin Shint - , and they
began their of
cial cooperation in election activities. The leader of Minshut - ,
Hatoyama Yukio, was running the election on the promise
'
to protect people
'
s
lives and their livelihoods
, the recurring election slogan in Japan. For Min-
shut - this meant a battle between a bureaucrat-led or lawmaker-led way of
policy-making, believing that the latter would make the public more proac-
tive. Indeed, if successful, it could mean a substantial change in the way pol-
itics were conducted in Japan. Although consolidation of the two-party
'
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search