Loading
Search
▼ Parties Scramble Ahead of Dissolution / LDP Preps Manifesto, Discusses Candidates
- Category:Event
Ruling and opposition parties have begun preparing Tuesday for a House of Representatives election the day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he would dissolve the lower house.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party confirmed solidarity at its executive members’ meeting and started full-scale work on compiling its manifesto.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike represents her new “Kibo no To” (Party of hope), wearing two hats as a governor and a party leader. In the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, potential candidates have been leaving the party one after another.
The election is expected to be held on Oct. 22, with official campaigning starting on Oct. 10.
“We want to have the power to break through this huge national crisis in response to public opinion,” Abe said at the LDP executive members’ meeting on Tuesday morning, directing his party to expedite preparations for the election in light of the planned dissolution of the lower house on Thursday.
Abe met with the party’s Election Strategy Committee Chair Ryu Shionoya and other lawmakers ahead of the executive meeting, apparently to discuss seven constituencies where its candidates have not been decided, among other topics.
After the meeting, senior members of the LDP Policy Research Council, including Chair Fumio Kishida, met to begin working on compiling their manifesto.
As a point of contention in the upcoming election, Abe has come out with a policy to change the allocation of the increased revenue stemming from a planned hike of the consumption tax rate, which is currently 8 percent, to 10 percent in October 2019.
In response to the policy change, the LDP is working on its manifesto highlighting Abe’s “human resources development revolution” that aims to realize free education programs for preschool children, as well as for those in universities and other higher education.
The LDP intends to hear opinions at a national conference of the secretaries general of the party’s prefectural chapters on Saturday before compiling the manifesto by Oct. 3.
Komeito, a coalition partner of the LDP, also held an executive members’ meeting at its headquarters on Tuesday to gear up for the election.
Koike, who assumed the position of the Kibo no To leader, arrived at the Tokyo metropolitan government office shortly past 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Asked by reporters about candidates to be fielded by her party, she smiled but did not answer.
Koike is one of several governors to have concurrently served as party heads, such as Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, who now heads Nippon Ishin no Kai, and former Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada, who led Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan).
Kibo no To plans to fight the election with Koike as the new party’s face.
Koike said at a press conference Monday, “I want to do my best [by doubling as party leader] to benefit both [the metropolitan government and the new party].”
Candidates the DP had planned to field in constituencies in the Tokyo metropolitan area are leaving the party one after another for Kibo no To.
In Kanagawa Prefecture, the DP’s three would-be candidates, including a former lower house member and a rookie, submitted notices of resignation from the DP on Tuesday to the party’s local chapter.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party confirmed solidarity at its executive members’ meeting and started full-scale work on compiling its manifesto.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike represents her new “Kibo no To” (Party of hope), wearing two hats as a governor and a party leader. In the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party, potential candidates have been leaving the party one after another.
The election is expected to be held on Oct. 22, with official campaigning starting on Oct. 10.
“We want to have the power to break through this huge national crisis in response to public opinion,” Abe said at the LDP executive members’ meeting on Tuesday morning, directing his party to expedite preparations for the election in light of the planned dissolution of the lower house on Thursday.
Abe met with the party’s Election Strategy Committee Chair Ryu Shionoya and other lawmakers ahead of the executive meeting, apparently to discuss seven constituencies where its candidates have not been decided, among other topics.
After the meeting, senior members of the LDP Policy Research Council, including Chair Fumio Kishida, met to begin working on compiling their manifesto.
As a point of contention in the upcoming election, Abe has come out with a policy to change the allocation of the increased revenue stemming from a planned hike of the consumption tax rate, which is currently 8 percent, to 10 percent in October 2019.
In response to the policy change, the LDP is working on its manifesto highlighting Abe’s “human resources development revolution” that aims to realize free education programs for preschool children, as well as for those in universities and other higher education.
The LDP intends to hear opinions at a national conference of the secretaries general of the party’s prefectural chapters on Saturday before compiling the manifesto by Oct. 3.
Komeito, a coalition partner of the LDP, also held an executive members’ meeting at its headquarters on Tuesday to gear up for the election.
Koike, who assumed the position of the Kibo no To leader, arrived at the Tokyo metropolitan government office shortly past 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Asked by reporters about candidates to be fielded by her party, she smiled but did not answer.
Koike is one of several governors to have concurrently served as party heads, such as Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, who now heads Nippon Ishin no Kai, and former Shiga Gov. Yukiko Kada, who led Nippon Mirai no To (Tomorrow Party of Japan).
Kibo no To plans to fight the election with Koike as the new party’s face.
Koike said at a press conference Monday, “I want to do my best [by doubling as party leader] to benefit both [the metropolitan government and the new party].”
Candidates the DP had planned to field in constituencies in the Tokyo metropolitan area are leaving the party one after another for Kibo no To.
In Kanagawa Prefecture, the DP’s three would-be candidates, including a former lower house member and a rookie, submitted notices of resignation from the DP on Tuesday to the party’s local chapter.
- September 27, 2017
- Comment (0)
- Trackback(0)