www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Home / World

What is the cost of electoral reform in Japan

By Zhou Muzhi | China Daily | Updated: 2009-08-12 07:50

Election heat is on in Japan. The two main political forces began campaigning for votes as soon as Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved the House of Representatives of the Diet (or parliament) on July 21.

With economic recession, a soaring unemployment rate, astronomical budget deficits, huge government debts and an unpopular prime minister, the situation looks gloomy for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). And the opposition parties, led by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), are likely to win the majority in parliament.

Since the bursting of the economic bubble in the early 1990s, the Japanese economy has been sluggish. The "iron triangle between politicians, bureaucrats, and businesses" that steered Japan through the post-war economic recovery and rapid growth has lost its glamour. The former allies are even blaming each other now. In recent years, the ruling LDP and the opposition DPJ both have blamed bureaucrats for Japan's predicament.

In January 2008, before the financial crisis hit, Minister of Economic Policy Hiroko Ota admitted in the Diet: "Japan is not a first-class economy any longer."

The LDP and the DPJ may be baying for each other's blood but there are more similarities than differences between them. They have been advocating almost identical economic and social policies. To garner votes, they have promised benefits, allowances and tax cuts, despite the government debt being twice as large as the country's GDP.

The two parties are similar even on the diplomatic front because there's no point of contention. The reason for that is simple: the politicians have lost effective leadership and the bureaucrats - once famous for their competence - have degraded themselves. There doesn't seem to be any fundamental difference between the two parties because both are conservative in nature. The root cause of this sorry state of affairs, however, is the reform in the electoral system.

Before 1996, Japanese voters were divided into 129 constituencies. Each constituency elected two to six members to the House of the Representatives. That system allowed members of smaller parties to be elected to the Diet. The theme of Japanese politics used to be confrontation and compromise between the conservative LDP and the reformist Japan Socialist Party (JSP).

The LDP, no doubt, enjoyed a firm grip on power by pushing economic growth and using pork barrels. But the JSP could still woo voters by demanding fairer distribution of wealth and grab a considerable number of seats in the Diet. The two parties had effective checks on each other. But after the electoral system underwent a fundamental reform in 1996, 300 of the 480 members of the House of the Representatives are elected from single-seat constituencies. The rest enter the Diet under proportional representation.

The change tilted the scale toward big parties with huge funds and political clout. Candidates now have to depend on the big parties and please the conservative majority voters in their constituencies. The principle of winner-takes-all has stifled minority votes, precipitating the decline of left-wing parties like the JSP.

A few days ago, I asked former prime minister and JSP head Tomiichi Murayama whether the electoral reform was responsible for the wane in JSP's influence. Murayama, who led the JSP during its political zenith, said that indeed was the case, and he was saddened by the development.

Since the reform, the major parties, irrespective of whether they are in office or the opposition, have been conservative. Though the LDP and DPJ are fighting ferociously, theirs is not a tussle for ideology or principles, but to assume power.

Another ill effect of the single-seat constituency system is the moral degradation of politicians. For instance, in February, Shoichi Nakagawa, then minister of finance, appeared to be drunk at a G7 press conference. He slurred while addressing journalists and became a laughing stock of the global media and audience. It was even more shocking to see voters in his constituency, which his father and he had cultivated for 46 years, welcome him home with encouraging words, instead of denouncing his action.

Unfortunately, many competent Japanese politicians usually lack strong support in their own constituencies. In a single-seat constituency system voters usually judge a candidate by the favors they get from him or her. Hence, many elected representatives are not competent enough to deal with national politics.

Politicians who can inherit fame, koenkai (local support group) and funding channels from their fathers and even forefathers are a greater success in the single-seat constituency system, leading to hereditary politics.

People in Japan are still materially affluent. Though the government has run up a huge debt, insolvency of public budget is still not a real threat because the creditors of 95 percent of the debts are Japanese citizens.

The problem is that Japan has bid farewell to the age of progress. Entangled in old and new problems such as the decline of manufacturing industries, an aging population, a shrinking workforce, lack of social benefits and surging unemployment, the DPJ may not be able to do much better than its rival, even though it is tipped to win the election.

While that may be case, the competition between two homogeneous parties cannot arouse much fever in society, nor can it lead the country into a new age. In other words, the single-seat constituency system has led Japan astray.

The author is a professor in Tokyo Keizai University, Japan.

(China Daily 08/12/2009 page9)

Today's Top News

Editor's picks

Most Viewed

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美日韩国产在线观看一区二区三区 | 久久免费小视频 | 在线播放免费一级毛片欧美 | 成人在线观看国产 | 欧美日韩一区二区在线 | 日韩欧美国产精品第一页不卡 | 欧美精品一区二区精品久久 | 亚洲成aⅴ人在线观看 | 亚洲女人被黑人猛躁进女人 | 台湾精品视频在线播放 | 国产成人综合久久精品红 | 国产在线精品一区二区不卡 | 三级网站大全 | 美女的被男人桶爽网站 | 白白在线观看永久免费视频 | 亚洲天堂男人天堂 | 欧美毛片 | 国产精品视频久久久 | 日韩欧美一区二区在线 | 欧美xo影院 | 成人a毛片视频免费看 | 一级毛片不卡免费看老司机 | 成人在线免费观看网站 | 男人天堂网在线观看 | 亚洲欧美另类在线视频 | 俄罗斯一级成人毛片 | 神马午夜在线 | 国产精品爱久久久久久久 | 国产一区二区三区在线免费观看 | 91精品在线免费 | 亚洲成人自拍网 | 欧美一级毛片怡红院 | 91大神在线精品视频一区 | 欧美高清一级毛片免费视 | 女人张开双腿让男人桶爽免 | 欧美成人xxxx | 99久久99久久精品免费看子伦 | 视频一区在线播放 | 色综合久久综合 | 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕 | 国产香蕉尹人综合在线观 |