A beautiful harmony? From the perspective of Komei ... | NHK News

A beautiful harmony? From the perspective of Komei… October 17 13:41

“The beautiful harmony”, the Prime Minister said the Prime Minister said.
October 5 will be another 20 years.
In the first place, why did the two parties with different claims walk together?
And how will we face future constitutional amendments?
This time, I took a fresh look at the Komeito side as a member of the Komeito Party.
(Akiko Shimizu)

Secret meeting

There is such an episode that cannot be overlooked when talking about the coalition.

The time is June 1997.

A funeral for Yoshiaki Masaki, one of the people who supported the early days of the Komei Party, was held in Osaka.

One of the participants was Takesaki Kanzaki, who later became the representative of the Komeito.

On the way back from the funeral, there was a person who spoke to Kanzaki.

“It ’s a good opportunity, so let ’s talk.”

Former Prime Minister of the LDP, Noboru Takeshita. Needless to say, it is a heavyweight town.

The place is the VIP room at Osaka Station.
At that time, Takeshita led the LDP largest faction "Keiseikai" split. At one time, the political world was greatly shaken, such as the birth of a non-privileged regime.

“From now on, it will move in a conservative political party and two major political parties, the LDP, and the Komeito party will be attached at that time.”

“From the perspective of Japanese politics, I think that the most desirable thing is that the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito are together.

Takeshita said that he laughed.

Kanzaki recalls that Takeshita's head would have had a "public coalition" in the future. I wonder if that was inherited by Keizo Komine and Hiromu Nonaka.

The cause is the devastating loss of the self

The following 1998.
At that time, the Liberal Democratic Party was coalitioned with the Socialist Party and the New Party PRESTO in the form of extracurricular cooperation, and under the administration of Prime Minister Hashimoto as the first party of the ruling party.

However, the LDP was defeated in the Upper House election, and Hashimoto resigned.

The successor, Prime Minister Obuchi, was urged to respond to the financial crisis aversion immediately after the start of the cabinet.

However, while the LDP is in the majority of the House of Councilors, the administration of the Diet is extremely difficult, and the Kominato Cabinet will turn to a coalition government.

Kominato first called for coalition to the then Liberal Party led by Ichiro Ozawa,

In January 1999, the self-governing regime was established.

He aimed for coalition with the Komeito Party to further stabilize the administration base.

On the other hand, the Komeito party has just reunited after the dissolution of the budding party.
Kanzaki, who was appointed as the representative of the Komeito Party in November 1998, recalled the situation at the time as follows.

“There were two choices,“ Do you want to coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party? ”Or“ Do you want to cooperate with the Democratic Party? ”However, if you cooperate with the Democratic Party, you do not know when you can take power. During that time, political instability will continue. When the economy is imminently dangerous, the economy cannot be rebuilt without stabilizing politics.

Decision to coalition

On the other hand, Kanzaki points out that it was difficult to get an understanding from supporters in changing the policy that had been fought with the LDP as an opposition party so far.

From within the party,
"The coalition with the LDP is urgent"
"Efforts should be made to create a non-Liberal government"
“It ’s the second dance of the former Socialist Party”
And so on, there were a lot of prudent opinions on the coalition with the LDP.

July 1999, half a year after the independence administration was established.

In response to Kominato meeting with Kanzaki and formally requesting him to join the coalition government, the Komeito Party held an extraordinary party convention.

At this time, Kanzaki showed a strong determination to join the coalition.

“There was an opinion that we should stay outside the cabinet, but I dared to step inside the cabinet. Instead of passively responding, I would go one step further and realize a policy like the Komeito within the administration. It ’s just that they ’re going to enter with great pressure, and that they ’ve decided to join the coalition with great enthusiasm. ”

Two days after the party convention, Kanzaki had a second meeting with Kominato.

After officially discussing the policy, he officially announced that he would respond to the cooperation of the cabinet.
On October 5, a three-party coalition government of Liberal, Freedom and Komei was established.

From this time, a long-standing journey of 20 years began.

The aim is "election"

Kanzaki points out that the Liberal Democratic Party is aiming for a coalition with the Komeito party as an “election”.
It was said that there was an electoral cooperation while the election system changed to a small constituency system.

“The Komeito party has a stable vote, and it seems that there is real substance of election cooperation. Even if it forms a coalition together with a party that targets floating votes, the vote does not come much. If you have a coalition with the political parties you have, there is a reward.The election system has changed from the middle constituency system to the current system, and it has been calculated whether you can take a majority or not. Right"

"I don't listen to you" Koizumi

A self-government regime that strengthens election cooperation and enters a stable track. However, it was not that there were no twists and turns.

First, something unexpected happened to Kanzaki.

“I didn't expect Mr. Ogura to die so early.”

“Because Mr. Ogura, I participated in this administration. As long as I participated, everyone would be top, but I was trying to join forces, but I thought it would be difficult if the color of the administration changed so quickly. "

On top of that, Mr. Koizumi was cited as the most difficult person to deal with among the LDP presidents who served as representatives.

“There was a distance between Mr. Koizumi's policy and the Komeito's policy. We exchanged opinions frankly on the ground, but some of the government's policies were to be“ careful ”within our party and support groups. For example, the Self-Defense Forces dispatched overseas, I understand the government is trying to do this.

Koizumi, who had built a strong alliance with President Bush in the US, where the terrorist attacks occurred in 2001, supported the use of US and other forces in the Iraq War.

After the end of the large-scale battle, the “Iraq Support Act” was enacted and the Self-Defense Forces were dispatched to proactively cooperate with the efforts of the international community to support the reconstruction of Iraq.

At this time, within the Komeito Party, there were a number of opinions against the dispatch, and there was a strong opinion that the support mother Soka Gakkai should discourage the dispatch.

Kanzaki visited Samawah in southern Iraq to confirm the security situation of the dispatched party.

“If you visit Samawah and it is shot on the way, you will not be able to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces, and if you can confirm the safety, you can also convince them. And entered Iraq. ''

“I went to Samawah, went to the hospital, and looked at various things, so I was able to make a decision that 'I'm okay with this. It's safe.' And allowed the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces. "

While Koizumi was in office, there was a conflict over worshiping at Yasukuni Shrine every year.

Kanzaki reportedly expressed his concerns because of possible diplomatic problems.

“In the Yasukuni Shrine worship issue, we have repeatedly said that we shouldn't think of China or South Korea ’s rebound, but Mr. Koizumi did not listen and said many times.”

“Since Mr. Koizumi was a person who didn't listen to what others said, there was a time when he also had a hard time. However, considering the big thing of stabilizing politics, this would leave the coalition and move politics. We've been together, thinking we can't go unstable. "

"I can't just hate it or stop it. I'm responsible."

The biggest crisis falls to the opposition party

In September 2006, the Koizumi Cabinet resigned.

Kanzaki also retired from the representative who served for about 8 years, and Akihiro Ota and former Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport succeeded him.

However, after this, the government will be shaken greatly. After Koizumi, the Prime Minister changed from Abe to Fukuda and Aso one after another.

And the 2009 House of Representatives election.
The Liberal Democratic Party and Komei Party were defeated and fell into opposition. The birth of the Democratic Party Administration.

Ota lost and resigned as representative. Suddenly, the current Yamaguchi Natsuo was appointed as the representative and decided to rebuild the party.

Yamaguchi reviewed the situation at that time as follows.

“I was shocked to be compassionate. The executives of the House of Representatives were not exactly the same, and the remaining people were all overwhelmed. The original honest feeling is that there is no room for thinking about other parties.”

“How to rebuild the Komeito, and how to deal with the Liberal Democratic Party and how to respond to the Democratic Party administration was not immediately answered.”

In such a situation, did you leave the Liberal Democratic Party and didn't want to join the Democratic Party?

“The Democratic Party is a government that was born with overwhelming support from the people, so it was n’t something that was confronted from the beginning. I thought it wouldn't last long, and I had a strong desire to aim for the next while enduring and cooperating with the Liberal Democratic Party, aiming for the next administration that could take more responsibility. "

“Neither the Liberal Democratic Party nor the Komeito Party had to rigorously reflect on why they lost the government and asked them. In that sense, I think they were“ partners of reflection ”.

"Geta Snow"

According to Yamaguchi's aim, in December 2012, both the Liberal Democratic Party and the Komei Party regained power.
The journey with Prime Minister Abe, which continues until now, has begun again.

“There was a strong desire not to repeat the mistakes again. The government was able to recapture, but it was never won by active support for the public, and it was possible because of the disappointment of the Democratic Party administration. , And daringly put the spirituality and political attitude to humbly and sincerely trying to run the administration into the administration agreement. "

Both thoughts that endured the “wind and snow” of the opposition era would solidify the unity of both parties.
However, the road was not flat for the next seven years.
The Abe administration promotes the Act on the Protection of Specific Secrets, the admission of the right to collective self-defense, and laws related to security.

The Komeito party also had strong arguments from supporters, but eventually agreed.
In response to a series of responses, the criticism that they were not able to play the role of the government's brakes, and the fact that they did not leave their own people even if they were stepped on, pointed out that they were “getting snow”.

“We did not recognize the collective self-defense right as a whole. We do not accept the use of force in foreign territories. In order to protect the lives and property of the people, there is an outline that we can use force only with the minimum necessary. I think it was because there was a Komeito party that stopped that. "

“There is a public will that cannot be accepted by the Liberal Democratic Party alone. If there is a Komeito party with a different color, it will be a coalition government that accepts a wide range of public will.”

Constitutional amendment

The future focus is on the constitutional amendment that Abe is motivated by.

The Liberal Democratic Party is aiming at the establishment of a proposal to amend the referendum law, which has been continuously deliberated at the extraordinary Diet session, and the progress of discussions on a proposal to amend the constitution.
On the other hand, how does the Komeito, who is cautious about “specifying the Self-Defense Forces”, face?

“There are places where the ruling and opposition parties have partially agreed to the national referendum law, which is a procedural law. Without deciding the procedure properly, no matter how much you discuss the main body, you can not speak. `` How about doing it from finishing the agreed referendum? ''

“Initiation is the power of the Diet, not necessarily the ruling framework to maintain the government, but all denominations and parliamentarians are parties. The Komeito party maintains national sovereignty, respect for basic human rights, and permanent pacifism. In the future, it will be discussed at the National Assembly what kind of consensus can be made.

“Constitutional proposals require a large number of extremely difficult hurdles for both the House of Representatives, two-thirds of the parliamentarians. It is natural that the Liberal Democratic Party raises the party's claims, but I think we should proceed humbly and earnestly towards a broad agreement.

Beautiful ...

Finally, after 20 years, I asked Yamaguchi, "Do you think that the coalition will last forever?"

"No, after all, if you can't meet the public's expectations with a sense of tension, you'll be struck. If the political attitude is bent, you can't show" restoration power "or" self-cleansing ability "that can restore it Will not continue "

What kind of situation does Yamaguchi say when the political attitude is bent? Is this when the Liberal Democratic Party enforces the Komeito's undesired policies? If so, what is that threshold?

In the previous House of Councilors election, the Komeito party has lost more than 1 million votes for the proportional representative from the previous three years.
This is considered to be due to the fact that the voter turnout was the second lowest after the war and the aging of supporters.
However, as we have been in step with the Liberal Democratic Party over the past 20 years, the original color of the party may have faded.

I would like to continue to cover whether the Komei Party's presence can be demonstrated and whether Abe can play the “beautiful harmony”.

(Honorifics omitted in the text)