(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

Japanese politics saw its biggest shake-up in decades on August 30, when the ruling coalition of Liberal Democratic and Komei parties suffered a crushing defeat in elections for the 480-member House of Representatives. The LDP fell to 119 seats (down from 300), while Komei lost 10 seats, keeping just 21. The big winner was the centrist Democratic Party (DPJ), led by Yukio Hatoyama, which swept 308 seats, up from 112. The Japanese Communist Party (JCP) finished fourth overall, retaining its nine proportional representation seats.

     The House of Representatives is the lower but more powerful house of the Diet of Japan. Three hundred members are elected in single-member constituencies, and another 180 from eleven multi-member constituencies by a proportional representation system.

     Analyzing the results, the JCP leadership stressed that the ruling LDP-Komei coalition had faced "severe criticism for destroying people's livelihoods and undermining the peace." During the campaign, the JCP urged voters to "put an end to the LDP-Komei government," and it welcomed the outcome as a major step forward in Japanese politics.

     The JCP received 4.94 million votes, up from 4.91 million in the 2005 election, although its share of votes fell to 7.03 percent from the previous 7.25 percent.

     The majority of voters rejected the LDP, which had been in office almost continuously since the mid-1950s. But in the main, this shift was towards the Democratic Party, which argued that the campaign was simply a choice between "two major parties".

     This view had wide appeal in areas where the JCP is relatively weak, making it difficult to increase the number of votes for the Communists. "Considering the adverse conditions," the Party said, "the JCP put up a good fight in just retaining the number of seats it held before the election and increasing the number of votes cast for the JCP. We express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who voted for the JCP, particularly to JCP supporters, including JCP Supporters' Associations members, as well as JCP members who braved the hot weather to work hard during the campaign."

     Assessing the new situation, the JCP leadership notes that the party "has a very important role to play as an opposition party that acts in a constructive manner. It will make every effort in cooperation with popular movements in order to realize our election  campaign platform. Our position toward a DPJ-led government will be one of cooperating in carrying out policies in the public interest. We will reject anything that is not in the public interest...

     "We will strive to do away with old politics serving the interests of Japanese business circles and the Japan-U.S. military alliance in order to pave the way for establishing the people-first principle in a new Japan. Voters passed a severe verdict on the LDP-Komei government in the general election, but various public opinion polls show that they did not throw full support behind DPJ  policies. Citizens will continue to explore a new political direction for Japan replacing the politics of the LDP-Komei coalition government. We will work to make known widely to the public that our proposals of change offer alternatives."

     The JCP has also warned that the DPJ's support for Japan-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) talks and its proposal to reduce the proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives are causes for concern.

     Formed in 1998 by a merger of smaller liberal and social democratic parties, the Democratic Party calls itself a "revolutionary" force against the "status quo." It advocates a mix of right-wing and reformist policies, but supports the "free market economic system". The DPJ also calls to uphold "fundamental principles of the Constitution: popular sovereignty, respect for fundamental human rights, and pacifism"; the latter point has been a controversial issue in Japan, where the LDP has long tried to scrap a constitutional ban on overseas military intervention.