In Japan, the October 27 election will see new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba trying to hold onto the majority of his party, which has ruled for a long time. Campaigning for the election began on Tuesday.
Before the voting, loudspeaker trucks started to go around and candidates distributed flyers. Rising prices, regional security, and unease over scandals inside Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party are among the main concerns.
Japan has been ruled by the LDP for nearly 20 years, despite several changes in leadership.
The likelihood of victory for the party and its coalition partner is high due to low voter turnout and a split opposition.
Ishiba’s LDP is still the most popular party, according to a weekend Kyodo News poll, with 26.4 percent of respondents, compared to 12.4 percent who plan to vote for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP).
Former defence minister and self-confessed security policy “geek” Ishiba, 67, won a ruling party leadership election in September and was approved as premier soon afterwards.
In order to support his initiatives, which include ideas to “re-create” an aged Japan through the revitalisation of abandoned rural areas, he has called a snap election.
Regarding diplomacy, Ishiba has advocated for a revision of the Japan-US security treaty to more accurately reflect the sovereignty of his nation.
In order to oppose China, he also supports the formation of a regional military alliance like to NATO, though he has warned that this would “not happen overnight”.
According to Ishiba, the LDP and its junior partner Komeito should retain a simple majority in the lower chamber of parliament as his “victory line” in the election.
But the LDP will need to convince voters jaded by a slush fund scandal that has swept the party along with questions over its lawmakers’ ties to the Unification Church.
Ishiba has pledged to “ensure Japan’s economy emerges from deflation” and wants to boost incomes through a new stimulus package as well as support for low-income households.
Allowing women to keep their maiden names after marriage is another contentious subject, one on which opposition parties are hoping to win over liberals.
To the best of the ministry’s knowledge, only Japan forces married couples to select one of their surnames, which is nearly invariably the husband’s.
Though the conservative LDP has been more circumspect, citing “traditional family values,” the CDP is in favour of allowing married couples to keep their separate surnames.
