National elections were conducted to the Upper House of Japan, the House of Councillors on July 20th, in which the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba suffered from a lack of a majority. However, ‘Sanseito’, an infant political party with far-right principles and inspired by Trump’s political ideologies, gained a remarkable number of seats, indicating a shift in the electoral trend and voter preferences across the political landscape of Japan.
Japan’s Upper House has a sanctioned strength of 248 seats, in which elections were conducted to 125 seats on Sunday. The ruling LDF party holds 75 seats in the house and to reach the mark of majority it was in need of 50 more seats in the latest elections. However, it ended up winning only 47 seats, thus being a minority party in both houses of Japan’s Parliament. LDF is now dependent on its coalition partners to sustain the power and Prime Minister Ishiba is reeling under political pressure from his own party members, coalition partners and the opposition.
The Rise of ‘Sanseito’ and its ‘Japan First’ Ideology
The most interesting and noteworthy fact about the recent elections in Japan is, the rise of a new party ‘Sanseito’. The party has won 14 seats in the Upper House even though, it’s been just 5 years since the formation of the party. ‘Sanseito’, that literally means ‘do it yourself’ was launched in 2020 by Sohei Kamiya, a former school teacher and then a private sector employee. Initially, he launched the political party on a YouTube channel and propagated his party’s ideologies and narratives against the government through the YouTube channel.
Inspired by US President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ and ‘Make America Great Again’ ideologies, he unequivocally voiced against Japan’s soaring inflation, spiking immigration and the conspiracies surrounding covid vaccination, thereby advocating the agenda of ‘Japan First’ and ‘Make Japan Great Again’. His bold and unequivocal political rhetoric was admired by the Japan’s electorate and Kamiya became popular in a very short span of time, which made him grab 14 seats in the Upper house of the parliament within 5 years of launching the party. Though, mere 14 seats seem to be minimal and limited, it is a sign of changing political discourses among the populace of Japan and a gradual shift in voter preferences.
Why did the LDF lose the Majority?
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has ruled Japan uninterruptedly since 1955. This is also the party of Shinzo Abe, who is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan. However, after 70 years of undisturbed rule, the party lost a majority in the Lower House (House of Representatives) last year and this year they lost control even in the Upper House, indicating a shift in the direction of the political wind in Japan.
The pivotal reason for the voter dissatisfaction in the ruling dispensation is the rising inflation. The inflation rate is more than 3% thus making the basic necessities such as rice extremely costlier. The wages are stagnant, and exports are becoming expensive amidst Trump’s tariffs. The Japanese population is also sceptical about the increasing wave of immigration into the country. Japan is historically a closed community that is averse to extreme immigration. However, as of 2023, foreigners constituted 3 per cent of Japan’s population, predominantly arriving from China and Vietnam, irking the Japanese inhabitants.
Kamiya and his Sanseito party persistently mirrored these apprehensions of people and spoke out against the surge in immigration as a ‘silent invasion’. He also pledged to revive the national identity. The disoriented economic and cultural situation and the simultaneous rise of Kamiya might have prompted the people of Japan to exhibit an inclination towards a newly formed far-right party, thus the ruling LDF lost its majority.
The election results necessitate Prime Minister Ishiba and the ruling coalition to do intense introspection and political manoeuvring in order to remain in power. Facing pressure from both the people and the political spectrum, the Prime Minister is leading a weak government, thus has to ensure a watertight balancing either to pass bills or the budget in the Parliament or exercising authority in other political domains. On the other hand, by giving a considerable number of seats to a newly formed far-right party, the people of Japan is hinting at a new wave of political mandate in the country’s long unbroken political latitude.
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