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On April 13, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano commented on the results of unified local elections for prefectural and designated city assemblies, commenting, “After ‘aiming to maintain current seats and make a number of gains’, although we experienced a slight drop in the number of seats held, we were mostly able to maintain our seats held. In particular, we were able to gain our seats in Ishikawa and Kochi prefectures (where we had no seats), and also produced a good showing in the Kanto prefectures north of Tokyo and in Shikoku.” He told reporters, “I would like us to ensure that as many DPJ candidates as possible are elected in the second half of the unified local elections for city, town and village assemblies and to continue to strengthen our base in order to amount a counter-offensive.”
Edano was asked: “Will the results provide the impetus for mounting a counter-offensive under the leadership of President Okada as we move toward next year’s House of Councillors election?” He replied, “We will use these results as a foothold and demonstrate the unique characteristics of Okada’s leadership as we move towards next year’s House of Councillors election.”
Edano was also asked, “What preparations will the party be taking towards the latter part of the Diet session and next year’s election?” He answered, “This is not necessarily directly related to the Diet, but it is important for us to raise the party flag while engaging confidently in activities in the regions and in Diet debate. [In these elections] we fielded candidates and campaigned vigorously in Tochigi prefecture, and as a result succeeded in doubled the number of seats held there. A similar trend was also visible in Gunma prefecture. It is definitely important for us to fly the party flag clearly and thoroughly.”
It is likely that the ruling parties will engage in aggressive Diet affairs tactics in the latter half of the Diet session, in relation to national security legislation and labor legislation. Edano touched on this, stressing that the election result and the Diet debate needed to be considered totally separately, and that sufficient time needed to be secured to debate these issues. He said, “Considering past circumstances and the gravity of the content involved, the national security legislation needs to be debated very carefully. The labor bill has been scrapped in the last two Diet sessions, and if the ruling party response does not acknowledge this, the Japanese people are likely to pass a very harsh verdict.”
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