Editorial: Japan opposition CDP must clearly show its election pledges are workable

Japan’s largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), has announced its campaign pledges ahead of the Oct. 31 House of Representatives election. The latest offering is critical of the “Abenomics” economic policy mix in effect since the second administration of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and it stresses measures to tackle social inequality.

But the CDP is still dogged by the negative image of its forebear, the now defunct Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which managed only a short-lived government upon achieving a transition of power. Questions remain as to how the CDP can dispel this image to become a ready recipient of governing power again.

The former DPJ administration made a number of policy pledges, including establishing child allowance cash handouts and minimum social security payments, but the plans were stalled by issues over how to obtain the necessary funds. The CDP must put these lessons and to use and clearly indicate how its policies are achievable.

The pledges this time include a temporary income tax exemption for people earning around 10 million yen (about $88,000) or less annually, and cash handouts for individuals on low incomes. To reignite demand in consumption, which has cooled during the coronavirus crisis, the CDP has also said it will for a limited period reduce sales tax to 5%.

The party says it will fund these promises by raising the top income tax rate for the wealthiest individuals and largest companies, introducing progressive rates for corporate tax and by issuing government bonds, among other measures. But can it really obtain the necessary funds, and will the measures have a negative effect on the economy? A full explanation is essential.

The CDP is touting its polices as a “revival” of those from the mid-to-late 20th century that envisaged Japan as a society of “100 million members of the middle class.” We can understand its direction in broadening the middle class, which drives consumption. But will such slogans linked to Japan’s period of rapid economic growth really resonate with people nowadays? These ideas are not compatible with today’s diverse age.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shares a stance paying special attention to economic distribution. In an attempt to win the hearts of voters, ruling and opposition parties must not allow the electoral contest to turn into one of pork-barrel politics.

The difference that sets the CDP apart from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is its energy policy. It is touting a society that isn’t reliant on electricity generated by nuclear power, and it has put forward an ambitious target to have all of the country’s electricity produced by renewables by 2050. A persuasive schedule for its plans is necessary.

The CDP says it would continue to center diplomacy and security policy on the Japan-U.S. alliance, but it also specified that it would seek to cancel the transfer of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture to Henoko, and to revise the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement. We want the party to show what steps it would take to achieve these aims.

Ruling and opposition parties alike should not just put forward individual policies; they should clearly elucidate what kind of a society they envisage. Debate that looks to the future is what Japan needs.