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On July 29, a General Meeting of DPJ Diet Members was held at the Parliamentary Museum (Kenseikinenkan). The party executive’s report analyzing the results of the House of Councillors election was presented and debated for over 2 hours.
The meeting was chaired by the Chair of the General Meeting of DPJ Diet Members Ryu Matsumoto. First, DPJ President, Prime Minister Naoto Kan addressed the gathering, expressing his sincere congratulations to those who had been elected in the House of Councillors election, and saying, “I would like to apologise for the fact that due to my ill-prepared remarks regarding the consumption tax, you were forced to fight a very tough and difficult election campaign.” He went on to explain that prior to his appointment as Prime Minister, when serving as Minister of Finance he had felt strongly that it was necessary to make every effort to restore public finances to health in order to protect the livelihoods of the Japanese people, and it was perhaps due to this that his remarks had seemed to be abrupt. In particular, he said that he felt a heavy responsibility for the fact that so many of his fellow Diet members had lost their seats in an election which the party had faced following the decisions by former President Yukio Hatoyama and Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa to resign, drawing a clear line with the past.
Kan went on to say, “I did not pay sufficient attention when making remarks regarding the consumption tax, and this caused distrust amongst the public, and so we ended up with this harsh result.” He expressed his deep regrets and repeated his apologies to those candidates defeated in the election and their supporters.
Following this, Kan revealed that the party had collected opinions from the DPJ branches in each prefecture and from each regional bloc up until that very day, and had produced a review based on such opinions, saying, “We take everyone’s opinions and criticisms very seriously and would like to put them to use in our forthcoming activities.” Kan also urged the party, “I would like this to provide the impetus for discussion as to how we can fulfil our responsibilities [to the people who voted to realise a change of government in last summer’s general election]; in other words to search out the direction that the DPJ should take from now on.”
Following this, Kan expressed his resolution based on reflections on past mistakes. He said he felt the criticism the party had received from the people in the House of Councillors election, was a caution: ‘Don’t forget your original intent’, ‘Don’t give up on your original resolution”. He said that what was called for was what could be described as the origins of the DPJ, the mode of government based on “Putting People’s Lives First” that been the impetus for last year’s change of government. He went on to say, “We will implement to the best of our ability the pledges promised to the people in our general election Manifesto.” Kan further emphasized that there was no change in the shift to politician-led politics and a political stance which called for freedom from bureaucratic domination, and said that the party would realise a spring-cleaning of the post-war administrative structure that would be a huge change for Japan, and rebuild both the national economy and people’s lives.
Kan vowed, “The DPJ, having realized a change of government, must work together as a team to implement the realization of policies based on the voices of the public.” He also touched on the significance of gathering opinions through the newly restored Policy Research Committee, and expressed his hopes for the development of a policy debate that would reflect the opinions of the Japanese people. He also stressed that he would like to see a greater reflection of the opinions of regional organizations in carrying out party management.
With regard to the forthcoming Diet session, due to start the next day, Kan said, “I am keenly aware of my responsibility for having caused the twisted Diet.” He called for the cooperation of party members, saying, “I myself would like to make every possible effort.”
Following this, Secretary General Yukio Edano reported on the results of the election review, citing the following items as being of relevance, 1) the way in which debate over the consumption tax had been embarked on had taken the public by surprise, 2) insufficient explanation of the administration’s achievement’s in the 10 months since a change of government, 3)unclear positioning of the House of Councillors Manifesto, and voters inability to understand the connection between it and last year’s general election Manifesto, 4) the way in which additional candidates had been fielded in multiple seat districts, 5) policies emphasizing the regions had not been sufficiently well communicated, 6) the party’s organizational weakness in the regions, 7) the need to further strengthen measures for dealing with various organizations, 8) how to fight election campaigns as a ruling party.
Following this, a Q and A session was held, and around 30 Diet members fresh from the tough election campaign, expressed their opinions in the strong desire that the party would work to rebuild itself.
After Edano had responded to the comments, Kan, who had been the subject of severe criticism, addressed the gathering, saying, “When I considered how I should act, I thought about how the DPJ could respond to last year’s change of government and the expectations of the people.” He expressed his determination to work hard to realize the policies pledged to the public in the general election, saying, “While we in a sense return to the origins of that change of government, I would like you to allow me to continue in my position as the person responsible for running the administration” and added, “While recognizing my responsibility, I would like to continue my efforts [as Prime Minister].”
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