Koike leaves open possibility of forming coalition with LDP

October 8, 2017

TOKYO- Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, leader of the Party of Hope, on Sunday left open the possibility of her party forming a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party after the Oct. 22 general election, while apparently keeping in mind a scenario of ousting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who doubles as LDP president.

Asked about the possibility of the Party of Hope forming a grand coalition with the LDP, during a debate among heads of eight political parties at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Koike said, "Basically, our major goal is to change the current political situation, where Abe alone is strong."

But she also said, "We'll make a decision after confirming the results of the upcoming election." The Party of Hope was established late last month.

Meanwhile, Abe said that he will aim to stay on if the ruling LDP and its Komeito ally maintain a combined majority of 233 or more seats in the 465-seat House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, in the election, even if the LDP sees the number of its Lower House seats decrease substantially.

The total number of Lower House seats was reduced to the lowest level since the end of World War II, from the 475 before the dissolution of the chamber on Sept. 28, to narrow vote-value disparities among densely and sparsely populated constituencies under the revised public offices election law.

Before the breakup, the ruling bloc had a combined 322 seats in the Lower House--287 for the LDP and 35 for Komeito.

Koike hinted at the possibility of the Party of Hope naming a person who will run in the general election as an independent as its candidate for prime minister in Diet votes to be held after the election.

"Some independent candidates may join our party (after the general election)," she said, adding that her party will consider its prime minister candidate after watching the outcome of the general election. Koike herself has said she will not run in the Lower House election.

Abe said, "If the ruling coalition wins a combined majority in the general election, I, as head of the LDP, will run for the Diet votes for the nomination of prime minister."

The ruling coalition will be able to maintain its Lower House majority even if the LDP reduces its strength by nearly 89 seats from the 287 seats before the breakup of the chamber, on condition that Komeito retains its 35 seats before the dissolution. Under law, Japan's prime minister needs to be a member of the Diet.

At the debate, Koike also questioned Abe's proposal to revise Japan's constitution to stipulate a rationale for the existence of the Self-Defense Forces in Article 9.

"I have major doubts" about the proposal by Abe, she said. Abe has proposed adding a third sentence to the pacifist article of the constitution to clarify the existence of the SDF.

The official campaign period for the general election is set to begin on Tuesday.

In a television debate program of Japan Broadcasting Corp., or NHK, earlier on Sunday, the heads of the ruling and opposition parties crossed swords over a planned consumption tax hike.

Abe and Natsuo Yamaguchi, leader of Komeito, stressed the need to raise the tax rate from 8 pct to 10 pct in October 2019 as planned, while changing the planned use of revenue resulting from the hike, in order to create a social security system that focuses on all generations in place of the current system with heavy emphasis on elderly people.

The heads of the Party of Hope, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Nippon Ishin no Kai called for a freeze on the tax rate increase, claiming that the hike in the tax burden could dampen personal consumption. The leaders of the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party showed opposition to the tax hike.

Abe said that his government aims to respond to the country's sluggish birthrate and aging population by changing the planned use of the revenue from the 2-percentrage-point tax hike.

"We can't deal with the problem unless stable revenue is secured," he said, underscoring that the government will use all possible measures to create an environment allowing the consumption tax rate hike.

Yamaguchi said, "Securing stable revenue will help create a sense of security," adding, "We'll try to prevent the economy from slumping, by introducing a reduced consumption tax rate."

Koike countered by saying, "Personal consumption would decrease if the tax hike is carried out at a time when people don't have a real sense of economic recovery."

Nippon Ishin leader Ichiro Matsui, also governor of Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, and CDPJ chief Yukio Edano agreed with Koike. The CDPJ was created earlier this month by liberal members who defected from the Democratic Party, an opposition party.

Elsewhere in the TV debate, Abe and Yamaguchi showed tolerance of idled nuclear power reactors in the nation going back online if they pass the Nuclear Regulation Authority's safety screenings under the nation's new standards introduced in 2013, after the March 2011 unprecedented triple reactor meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Koike and Edano said that their parties will aim to reduce the country's dependence on nuclear power generation to zero. JCP leader Kazuo Shii expressed opposition to any restart of nuclear reactors. Jiji Press