Asia

JAPAN Japan votes amid international crisis and rising prices

July 10 will be a test for Prime Minister Kishida, whose popularity is falling due to rising inflation. Young people in the streets to ask for more attention to climate change, an issue absent from the electoral campaign despite Japan’s vulnerability, which has been highlighted again in recent weeks.

Tokyo () – On July 10, more than one hundred million Japanese citizens will go to the polls to elect candidates for the House of Councillors, the upper house of parliament. Every six years, half of the members of the assembly are renewed with a mixed system, which combines proportional and majority voting. The electoral campaign is now in its final stages and these days the parties are making their last efforts to convince the undecided.

The campaign officially kicked off on June 22 and revolved around a few key themes. One of them is the foreign and security policy from the country. It is not the first time that the electoral debate has focused on a non-domestic issue and the invasion of Ukraine has greatly affected the Japanese population, who believe that a similar war could also break out in East Asia. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s LDP has promised increase defense spending over the next few years, with a 2% target in mind. “There is no economy or anything else if we don’t defend our territory and our sovereignty,” said Takaichi Sanae when he presented the ruling party’s electoral program.

But the internal issues are not lacking. Japan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, as has been seen these days; however, the main parties have left the issue quite sidelined. The one who brought it back to the center of public debate was the younger generation, who went out on Sunday to the streets from several cities in the country to ask candidates and voters for a greater commitment on this front.

The other great absentee from the electoral campaign is Covid. Neither the PLD nor the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), the main opposition party, have any interest in going too far into it because thepublic attention has waned in recent months, parallel to the decrease in cases. According to a survey by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, only 5% of voters will decide who to vote for based on anti-Covid policies, a field in which, on the other hand, proposals of the different parties They have several points in common.

What seems to interest public opinion the most are economic issues, such as inflation. According to a recent study, the prices of more than 15,000 foods they will increase an average of 15% between now and the end of the year. Inflation, therefore, is a problem for all Japanese families, who this year will be forced to pay 60,000 yen (about 430 euros) more than the average of previous years, mainly for food and energy costs. The price increase is a thorn in the shoe of the government led by Kishida Fumio, whose popularity rating has fallen in recent weeks due to inflation. CDP leader Izumi Kenta has repeatedly attacked the government on this point, suggesting reduce consumption tax from 10% to 5%. The other opposition party, Nippon Ishin, also took the same line, but the LDP remained steadfast in its opposition to the idea. “We should cut social aid spending by 30%, including pensions, if the consumption tax is really lowered as the opposition demands,” said the party’s vice president.

The heart of the electoral debate, however, is focused on the issue of wages. All parties agree on the need to take measures to raise workers’ income. The debate, if anything, revolves around what are the best tools to do so. Kishida has made raising wages his political banner and, in addition to the tax incentives already proposed to raise workers’ wages, he also said he will raise the minimum salary at 1,000 yen an hour. The CDP criticizes this measure as insufficient, proposing instead an increase to 1,500 yen, while Nippon Ishin has supported the introduction of a guaranteed minimum income.



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