Japanese Voters: “It’s the Economy, Stupid”
Norimitsu Onishi of the New York Times reports on elections for upper house in Japan going strongly against the party of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe, apparently, hadn’t been in tune with what voters wanted and got the message too late:
The loss, however, will allow the opposition to check Mr. Abe’s legislative agenda. Using parliamentary majorities he had inherited from his popular predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, Mr. Abe rammed through laws to instill patriotism in schools, elevate the status of Japan’s military and prepare for a referendum on revising the pacifist Constitution.
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With polls predicting a tide against Mr. Abe’s party, the Liberal Democrats had braced themselves for a defeat. Some members of his party – like Kohei Tamura, a lawmaker seeking a third term in a race that he had seemed assured to win just a few weeks ago – sought to survive by openly attacking Mr. Abe. Mr. Tamura, who represented Kochi prefecture in western Japan, lost Sunday.
Once over 60 percent, Mr. Abe’s approval ratings plummeted as he appeared out of touch with voters’ anxieties about everyday issues, especially a national pension record-keeping problem that could jeopardize the benefits paid out in what is a rapidly ageing society. Instead, Mr. Abe pursued a nationalist agenda, saying until recently that this election’s main them was revising Japan’s pacifist Constitution and repeating his trademark, if vague, promise of turning Japan into “a beautiful country.”
During the 17-day campaign, Mr. Abe switched gears and focused on economic issues. Mr. Abe took out full-page ads in Sunday’s newspapers, pledging to turn voters’ “anger and anxieties” into “peace of mind and hope.” But the change in strategy was too late, particularly because the opposition leader, Ichiro Ozawa, had centered his campaign on the economy.
