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On September 30, DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa held a press conference in Shizuoka City, and expressed the DPJ’s intention, as the party of government, to make every effort to work toward the realisation of policies “Putting People’s Lives First”.
Ozawa was asked for his evaluation of the Hatoyama administration, launched two weeks previously. He stressed that “this is something for the media and the public to decide,” but added, “I feel that [the administration] has gained the trust of the people and is making a good start.”
Furthermore, regarding the challenges involved in establishing a two-party system under which changes of government are possible, Ozawa first pointed out that the LDP-Komeito government had made the maintenance of power itself the object of their mode of government, and isolated themselves from the lives of the people, and that this was the biggest reason for their defeat in the recent elections. At the same time, he added, the DPJ was vowing to bring about a change from a mode of governance that left everything up to the bureaucrats, that is a bureaucrat-led style of governance, to a people-led mode of governance, in other words governance initiated by politicians who have been chosen by the people, and to realise politics for the people, and as a result of this had been awarded a majority of Diet seats by the people.
Ozawa added, “In accordance with our stance, the DPJ needs to steadily implement policies in order to realise improvements in people’s lives. I believe that the people’s expectations of a change of government lie in this area.”
Ozawa also commented on the situation of the LDP, “I hope that they will fully realise their existence as a party that has become totally divorced from people’s lives, and that a new LDP can be created. I believe that this will enable the functions of a two-party system and a parliamentary democracy to be fully demonstrated.”
Furthermore, Ozawa said that in next summer’s House of Councillors election, he would like the DPJ to field more than one candidate in constituencies with two or more seats. He stated, “Apart from those prefectures where there are existing candidates from our fellow coalition parties or allied parties, I am now envisaging a scenario in which we will field multiple candidates in prefectures with multiple seats, in so far as it is possible.”
With regard to electoral cooperation with the Social Democratic Party and the People’s New Party, Ozawa said, “We have formed a coalition and have agreed to work hard together from now on, so there will be no change in the three parties’ making every effort to fight the campaign together.” He added, “There will be no change in our policy of fielding candidates who are capable of gaining the support of the voters, whatever party they may belong to.”
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