 |
2014/04/28
Kaieda vowed to face-off with ruling parties in the final phase of the Diet session
|
On April 28, DPJ President Banri Kaieda held his regular press conference at party headquarters. He discussed issues such as the result of the by-election in Kagoshima No. 2 district of the House of Representatives, and the DPJ's stance toward the ruling parties during the final phase of the Diet session.
Kaieda made the following comment on the by-election result for Kagoshima No. 2: "Akashi Uchikoshi gained votes from 46,021 residents of the prefecture, but was unfortunately defeated. This was an election in which four opposition parties jointly backed a candidate, and the campaign was undertaken with the secretaries-general of four opposition parties and Diet members from each of the parties going to the district to support the candidate. However, a loss is a loss and we must take it very seriously."
Kaieda went on to comment on voting patterns in the by-election, saying, "In Kagoshima City and Ibusuki City [our candidate] topped the ruling party candidate by 10,000 votes. However, in Amami City and municipalities in other outlying islands we unfortunately lost out by 30,000 votes and as a result lost overall by 20,000 votes. We would like to analyse what meaning this result holds for the future course of the DPJ." He added, "I would like to once more express my gratitude for those residents of Kagoshima prefecture and those around the country who gave their assistance and support to the campaign."
Furthermore, Kaieda went on to express the opinion that this election was not an endorsement of the Abe administration, saying, "Considering the low turnout, I don't think this can definitely be taken as a sign that voters have shown their acceptance of all the policies of the Abe administration."
Kaieda said that during the election campaign, the DPJ had called for an end to money politics, as well as pointing out that the revenues from the increase in the consumption tax were not being used to enhance social security as had been called for by the public, and that the content of TPP negotiations was not only not being made clear to the public, but was also not being reported to the Diet. With regard to the TPP in particular, he explained that the DPJ had submitted a bill calling for the submission of information regarding the TPP to the Diet jointly with Your Party, Yui no to, the People's Life Party and the Social Democratic Party on April 25. Kaieda said, "We submitted a Diet members' bill in view of the fact that more information should be disclosed to the public." He went on to explain that although the by-election had ended, the DPJ would continue to actively confront the LDP-Komeito coalition led by Prime Minister Abe in the final phase of the current Diet session, regarding issues such as enhancing social security by using the increase in consumption tax revenues, the provision of information regarding the TPP and revisions which would worsen employment legislation.
|
|
|
 |
|
