EDITORIAL: Upper House poll in July

It is now certain that this year's Upper House election will be officially announced on June 24 and held on July 11. It will be the first national election since the Democratic Party of Japan swept into power last year in a historic change of government.

Unlike a Lower House election, an Upper House poll doesn't offer voters an opportunity to choose their government directly. Yet the upcoming election has serious and multiple implications for Japanese politics.

First, it will be an opportunity for voters to express their assessment of the DPJ's first nine months of governance.

Second, it will give voters a chance to show whether they have confidence in Prime Minister Naoto Kan's new government.

Third, the election will also be an opportunity for voters to offer a verdict on whether the transfer of power has been good for the nation.

Rejection and participation

The dramatic political change over the past year was brought about by the huge "power of no" exercised by voters.

Last year, the Liberal Democratic Party, which was once called the "perennial ruling party" was bumped from power by votes cast by people rejecting any further continuation of "old politics."

The recent simultaneous resignations of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa were prompted by a growing public demand that the ruling party rid itself of all the residue of old politics.

The power of rejection causes destruction but does not necessarily lead to new construction. The political winds currently blowing in favor of the new Kan administration could wind down at any moment.

In his first Diet policy speech delivered Friday, Kan aptly referred to an essay he published in 1976 which was titled, "Nothing is Born Out of the Logic of Rejection."

Back then, political turmoil triggered by the Lockheed bribery scandal deepened public distrust of politics. The feeling that political parties and politicians were detestable was spreading among Japanese citizens.

Under such political circumstances, the young Kan decided to run for a Lower House seat and pledged in the essay to seek to establish participatory democracy in Japan without giving up on politics.

The current political situation is, of course, quite different from that in those days.

But it is as true now as it was then that what is truly important is what happens after rejection.

In his Friday speech to the Diet, Kan vowed to overcome the political setback suffered by the DPJ by remembering what brought about the historic change in government last year and restore public confidence in his party.

This is a message that can also be applied to the LDP, which has gone into opposition, and other parties as well.

We hope voters will exercise their power in a constructive rather than a destructive way this time in the upcoming Upper House election.

Questions about ruling coalition and Diet

The Kan administration has no achievements to its credit yet.

The high poll ratings of the new government only reflect public expectations for Kan's leadership and a positive reaction to his determination to insulate his administration from Ozawa's influence, which he demonstrated by his choices for the Cabinet and party leadership posts.

Voters have many questions for Kan. Can he really make the government functional again? How specifically does he plan to bring about the "strong economy, strong finances and strong social security" he has promised?

How exactly will he try to repair Japan's relations with the United States, which have been damaged by his predecessor's mishandling of the issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture, while at the same time tackling the urgent need to ease the burden of the heavy U.S. military presence shouldered by people in the prefecture?

The DPJ and the Kan administration didn't act in a very encouraging way when they decided to cut short debate at the special Diet session so that the Upper House election will be held before public support for the new administration starts to decline.

Kan has the responsibility to lay out his specific policy visions and programs during the short period before the poll to allow voters a chance to make an informed decision.

The LDP must also announce a clear vision for its political comeback.

While the election will mainly be a battle between the two major parties for a public mandate, other smaller parties will also try to seek voters' support for their own policy agendas and proposals.

In particular, the question of what are the key conditions for a politically viable and responsible ruling coalition will develop real traction during the campaign.

The DPJ agreed with the People's New Party to maintain their alliance after political haggling over what to do with the postal reform bill, which was promoted vigorously by the DPJ's junior partner in the ruling coalition. But the DPJ has broken with another junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party, over the Futenma issue.

Depending on the election outcome, the DPJ may have to consider forming a coalition with a new party casting itself as a "third way."

Failing to win a majority in the Upper House would seriously hobble the ruling party's ability to push through its policy initiatives, a problem that dogged the previous LDP government.

What are the reasons and conditions that justify a coalition agreement among parties? Isn't there a way for a government to survive when the Upper House is controlled by the opposition?

These questions concerning party politics were seldom, if ever, asked before in this nation.

These are conundrums that are directly linked to such questions as what to do with the "excessively powerful Upper House" and whether the nation's current bicameral system needs major changes.

Voters less tolerant of policy failure

The July election will also be a major test for the evolution of the election campaign based on manifestoes.

Through the past several national elections, a new approach to election campaigns has become established. It is centered on manifestoes, or the parties' campaign platforms containing policy proposals, goals and financing plans.

What sets the upcoming election apart from the polls in the past several years is the fact that it will be an opportunity for voters to evaluate the performance of the ruling party in carrying out its campaign promises for the first time since the former opposition party came to power.

The huge budget gap ensured that the DPJ cannot honor many of the promises in its manifesto for last year's Lower House election, which is full of costly giveaways to garner votes.

This has spawned critics of manifesto-driven election campaigns. Yoshimi Watanabe, a former LDP lawmaker who now heads Your Party, for instance, said, "Manifesto reeks of fraud, and we don't use this word" to describe the party's campaign platform.

Even if there are serious problems with the DPJ's manifesto, that doesn't reduce in any way the importance of manifestoes as the principal material for voters' decisions.

With the government's tax revenues dwindling and falling far short of its spending, setting clear policy priorities for intelligent choices is of crucial importance.

A party would be grossly mistaken if it believed Japanese voters are still willing to put complete trust in a party and allow it to rule the country without scrutinizing its actual performance.

A party's manifesto is basically a list of policy proposals it promises to realize during the four-year term of its newly elected Lower House members.

But a party should be allowed to revise its manifesto or change its policy priorities in response to changes in reality.

An Upper House poll as a midterm election is a great opportunity for parties to explain such changes in their policy agendas and seek support for them from voters.

The DPJ should make bold changes to its manifesto if necessary. The LDP, which has bitterly criticized the ruling party's manifesto, should announce an opposition party manifesto based on its past experience as a governing party that can serve as a good example, so that there will be robust and meaningful debate on important policy issues during the election campaign.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 12