Oberhaus election: election slop for Japan’s government coalition

In Japan, the government coalition of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba suffered a serious setback in the election of the upper house. As Japanese media reported on the basis of voter surveys after the polling stations were closed, Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and her junior partner Komeito clearly lost.

Ishiba’s coalition threatened the majority loss after she had already lost her majority in the election as a more powerful lower house and has been a minority government since then. As head of party and government, Ishiba could now come under pressure in his LDP.

The business nation belonging to Germany with Germany threatens political instability. The background of the election defeat for the coalition is, according to surveys, the dissatisfaction in the electoral people over the rising prices and immigration policy. Right -wing populist small parties such as the openly xenophobic party Sanseito benefit from this. According to the reports, she was able to significantly increase in the election of the upper house. The largest opposition party, the constitutional democratic party of Japan by former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, was also able to gain mandates.

Expert considers future change of government to be possible

Ishiba indicated on the election night that he wanted to stay in office, even if important opposition forces excluded the possibility of a coalition with the government camp. “I want to be aware of my own responsibility to address the problems correctly”. According to the media, LDP general secretary Hiroshi Moriyama said that a political vacuum had to be avoided.

“Even if the government coalition can still cling to power, a lot indicates that it will be replaced in the next lower house election,” said Axel Klein, professor of political science at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the German Press Agency in Tokyo. “The electorate now believes that the opposition has realistic chances of taking over the government, and will therefore be much more willing to vote for one of the opposition parties at the next election,” said Klein.

Foreigners for the first time

The Sanseito is the first party in Japan to successfully convert the topic of foreigners into political currency. “As in other democracies, the Xenophobe party is nationalist, revisionist and populist and promises a return to the good old days,” explains expert Klein.

In Japan, which is proud of his homogeneous society, only three percent of the 124 million inhabitants are foreigners. In view of the lack of workers due to the aging of the company, however, their number increases significantly. Last year she rose by 10.5 percent of around 3.8 million. However, Japanese society is much less prepared for hinge than European companies.

Japan’s media report more about negative pages of immigration such as abuse of national health insurance and more traffic accidents. In addition, there is the boom in foreign tourists. In the media there is often talk of rapid behavior. More and more Japanese feel uncomfortable.