Does the Tokyo governor’s new party galvanize Japan’s opposition?
On September 27, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike launched her new party Kibo no To (Party of Hope). Within 24 hours after the party’s launch, speculations have begun to swirl that the Democratic Party of Japan, struggling to regain public confidence since it lost power in December 2012 despite several attempts to refresh its image with party leadership changes, may dissolve itself, with many of its members joining Koike’s new party.
In the press conference to launch Kibo no To, Koike emphasized the necessity for a “reset” in Japanese politics. She also emphasized that her party will position itself as a “tolerant and reform-minded conservative party that supports tolerance.”
Kibo no To offers a party platform that include six principles. They are: (1) aspiration to become a tolerant conservative party that can remedy the societal divisions pervasive across the world; (2) pursuant of the highest degree of transparency that respect people’s “right to know,” departing from interest group-driven politics; (3) protection of our people’s lives freedom and properties, providing the foundation for everyone to live lives with hopes and energy; (4) realistic diplomatic and national security policy grounded in pacifism; (5) most efficient use of tax revenues and development of sustainable social foundations; and (6) realization of a society where diversity is respected.
The party platform suggests that Koike aims to draw support from two groups of voters. The first group is those who have been frustrated with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-Komeito coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but have continued to vote for the ruling coalition in the absence of attractive alternatives. Her party’s platform has many overlaps with the policy trajectory that the Abe government currently supports. However, the party’s emphasis on “tolerance” is a thinly-veiled criticism against the political method Abe has often used — steamrolling legislation by relying on the solid majority the ruling coalition has enjoyed — to push through his agenda, which invited much criticism even from within the LDP.
