EDITORIAL: Yet another new party

It arguably looks like they are forming a "mutual-assistance cooperative" to help each other in the upcoming election.

We are talking about Shinto Kaikaku (new party for reform) started Friday by former health minister Yoichi Masuzoe. All the other Upper House legislators of the party except for Masuzoe are up for re-election this summer. It is obvious they seek to guarantee their own re-election by associating themselves with Masuzoe, a popular politician voted most qualified to be prime minister in various opinion polls.

The new party stresses "clean politics" and "politics everyone can participate in." The party's platform calls for abolishment of donations from companies and organizations, also reducing by half the number of Diet lawmakers. However, Hiroyuki Arai, secretary general of the party, was once a leading opponent of postal privatization. Was he not once totally incompatible with Masuzoe, a leading proponent of structural reform? We think the party's priority was mere numbers, not principles or policies.

Moreover, the new party was launched after Masuzoe and fellow lawmakers first joined the Japan Renaissance Party, which then changed its name.

It seems obvious this machination was for the sake of receiving government subsidies for political parties.

The way the new party began life will quite likely make voters distance themselves from political parties even further. Voters are hardly so naive as to support a party just because it hoisted up someone as well-known as Masuzoe.

While the Liberal Democratic Party has lost a popular member, Masuzoe was rather isolated in the LDP because of his repeated scathing attacks on the party leadership. At this point, there are apparently no other LDP lawmakers eager to join the new party.

Ever since the LDP fell from power, 13 members, including former Cabinet members Kunio Hatoyama and Kaoru Yosano, have left the party. It seems safe to say that with Masuzoe's departure, the bleeding has stopped for now. There are those within LDP who say, "Those of us left can finally pull together and cooperate." However, the situation does not look all that promising.

Of course, the party must stop the bleeding and cover the wound, but this is no more than emergency first-aid. The party must accept the fact that it will require no small amount of time to recover its vitality and stamina.

In recent years, the LDP repeatedly chose the wrong leader--Shinzo Abe and Taro Aso--after it was swayed by their popularity in opinion polls. The LDP should not view the loss of its "Masuzoe card" as something negative, but as something to be used to its advantage, and make a steady effort to rejuvenate itself.

Since the change of government, there has been a rush of new parties, "the Sunrise Party of Japan," "the Japan Innovation Party," and now "Shinto Kaikaku," all popping up and jockeying for position.

They all seek to prevent the ruling Democratic Party of Japan from winning a majority in the next Upper House election, so that they will be able to seize swing votes, and hopefully force a realignment of the political landscape.

However, none of these new parties are capable of catching the hearts of disenchanted voters who are dissatisfied with the DPJ and the LDP.

The new parties are lacking in clear-cut principles and policies. They are also without any sense of vitality that gives the public hope for the future.

Under the current system, the existence of a "third pole" party would not be insignificant.

In order to fulfill that role, the party would have to be ready for such a role and also have a tough and wily strategy. If not, then the new parties will only be a short-lived flash in the pan.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 24