Japan’s government loses upper house majority • FRANCE 24 English

For more on this, we can bring in France 24’s correspondent in Tokyo, Gavin Blair. Now, Gavin, exit polls uh are showing that the ruling majority is likely to fall short. How significant are these results and what do they mean for the ruling coalition? It should be said we are still waiting for the final results and this election has been quite unpredictable, but it does look like they are going to lose lose their majority at this stage. The latest we have is they have 21 seats of the 125 available and the opposition parties have 57. So it is looking uh dire for them. Although it’s still technically possible they could hang on to their to their majority. In terms of the implications, this almost certainly means the end for PM Ishiba. As you mentioned, he lost he uh lost his majority in the lower house and that was a snap election that he called last year. So, two election losses in the row added to the fact that he’s not particularly popular within his own party. This almost certainly means the end for him in terms of the party. The LDP may now have to go looking for new coalition partners to to shore up the government. Now, um you know, we heard that voters were a bit upset about the state of the economy, but surely it was more than that. What else were they upset about? the economy was was a big one. Um food prices, rice prices in particular doubled over the last year. As you mentioned, wages haven’t kept up with that, not even close. Um but for the first time in election year, the immigration, the foreign population of Japan has become a major issue. It is of course linked to the the economic issues. These are people who are struggling financially and times such as this, scapegoats tend to emerge. Um the fact is that most people in Japan understand that Japan needs more foreign workers. There’s a dire shortage of labor in nearly every sector. However, um they have tapped into frustrations here um talking about foreigners getting welfare um foreign crime. Even though the actual numbers are low, this has resonated with a with a disillusioned and frustrated electorate. Now, uh that sort of I think plays into the rise of this populist party that we’ve been hearing about Sanso. Uh what is the appeal there for voters? So, I mean, it really is that they’re tapping into that frustration there that they’ve run on a a Japan Japanese first um slogan and and platform. Um they’ve borrowed heavily uh from similar parties in Europe and the MAG movement in the in the States. uh they’ve used social media very effectively. Um there is a large chunk of the electorate here that feels disaffected, that feels like it has been ignored by the both the government and the major opposition parties and they’re tapping into that. I would say that there’s probably a chunk of the electorate that doesn’t understand all of their policies. They’re they’re calling for a new constitution which is quite alarming in content, but that’s not really being looked into. They’re what saying to people, you know, we will we will look after you. we will care about you and not the foreigners. And that’s that’s resonating. Now, um we just got some news in here. The Japanese prime minister uh did not answer whether or not he would resign when asked. And he’s also got to negotiate trade deal with the United States. That tariff deadline coming up on August 1st. So, all of this got to be putting quite a lot of pressure on him. Um you know, what what do we see happening? Indeed, his chief negotiator has said the results of the election will make no difference. The truth is that Japan’s in a weak position in those negotiations to start with. It has very few cards to play against the US. It’s its biggest market. It’s its military protector. Anytime you go into negotiations from a position of weakness and this is going to be a very weakened government, that can never be a plus. So, and the electorate realizes that as well, that they’re they are arguing from a weak position and this is only going to weaken them further. Gavin, thank you so much for keeping us updated. That’s France 24’s correspondent in Tokyo.

Japan’s ruling coalition is poised to lose its majority in the upper house, exit polls showed after Sunday’s election, weakening Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s grip on power and heralding political turmoil as a tariff deadline with the United States looms. FRANCE 24 correspondent in Tokyo, Gavin Blair, reports.
#Japan #elections #UpperHouse

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9 comments

  2. If it looks like Maga in Japanese version…they are in trouble.
    But … Like USA, they voted freely.
    Love japanese culture, no so much their bias but everywhere else is the same.
    If living in others country… Adapt assimilate respect become expect don't rely everything that can happen in yours or not if.

  4. The analysis is incorrect. Japanese has many many strong points that it can utilize in negotiations, including being the number one holder of US debt. It is also the biggest investor and foreign employee of US workers. The question is who can negotiate on behalf of Japan in an effective way. Japanese voters dont have faith in the LDP, and it’s hard to blame them.

  8. Welcome to the neocon controlled media,
    They don't care about the truth
    They care if you go along with them,
    And by the sadness I see on their faces they are not happy with the outcome of the election,
    Which means the results are good for the Japanese and bad for the neocon globalists

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