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Updated October 31st, 2021 at 11:04 IST

Japan's ruling LDP headed for 'bloodied victory' in general elections: Report

Ruling party of Japan, the LDP, which has governed for almost seven decades without any interruption, is expected to claim victory in Sunday’s general election.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Fumio Kishida
Image: AP | Image:self
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Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed the nation for almost seven decades without any interruption, is expected to claim victory in Sunday’s general election. However, the newly-elected Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, could merge from the polls with damaged authority, stated a report by The Guardian. Kishida became LDP president just last month and is hoping to capitalise on a drastic fall of COVID-19 cases in the country and engage voters with “new capitalism” that would ensure that wealth is directed towards the middle class in the country. 

However, the report has stated that Kishida would have not been encouraged by the polls which were published on Friday ahead of Sunday’s general elections. The polls suggested that LDP could lose the majority in the powerful lower chamber of the Japanese parliament even though it assured that the coalition government will almost certainly survive. Reportedly, Japan’s both Nikkei and Yomiuri newspapers showed that LDP might struggle to hold to its lone majority in the 465-seat house of the parliament which would increase the ruling party’s dependency on the support from Komeito, a junior coalition party that has ties to Buddhist organisation Soja Gakkai.

Japanese PM Kishida Seeks Mandate

Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is seeking a mandate for his COVID-19 and economic policies in the general elections set to take place on Sunday, 31 October. The political leaders in the country made their final appeals to the voters on Saturday, 30 October, Kyodo News reported. 

In the final speech from Saitama Prefecture's Higashimatsuyama in Japan, the Japanese PM pledged to secure more hospital beds for COVID-19 patients and kickstart the administration of coronavirus vaccine booster shots by December. Seeking a mandate, Kishida has also vowed to get Japan's economy back on track, which is also the world’s third-largest. As per the Japanese media outlet, he also pledged to increase middle-class incomes. 

To a crowd of nearly 2,000, Kishida said, “We will revive the Japanese economy and make sure the fruits are enjoyed by everyone, not just a chosen few...The opposition is only thinking about redistribution, but (without growth) there will eventually be nothing to distribute,” according to the report. 

LDP’s opposition parties include the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), who reportedly argued that the “Abenomics” policies pursued by Kishida’s predecessors have only fueled corporate earnings and spiked shared prices but failed to get an increase in wages. 

The former foreign minister, Kishida is the third PM of Japan in just over a year. He succeeded Yoshihide Suga who came after Shinzo Abe. The Constitutional Democratic Party also reportedly criticised the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as “behind the curve.”

Addressing a crowd in Kanagawa Prefecture, CDPJ leader Yukio Edano was quoted by a media outlet as saying, “Politics exists to protect lives and livelihoods...We have continued to make proposals for change. It's up to you to make a change.”

(IMAGE: AP)

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Published October 31st, 2021 at 11:04 IST

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