Chinanews, October 31 (Dong Hanyang) The Japanese House of Representatives election will be voted on October 31.
Recently, the ruling and opposition parties have launched a fierce election campaign, and party leaders have taken to the streets and delivered speeches.
Although this election is a rare "short-term election", it is also a "life and death battle" for Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Once the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito Party cannot keep power, Kishida may become Japan's "shortest-lived" prime minister.
Even if it is difficult to win this "battle", the situation facing its government is not optimistic.
Data map: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
"Lightning" election
465 seats, 17 days to win
This time, Japan is holding the House of Representatives election for the first time in four years.
On October 14, just 10 days after taking office as Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida initiated the procedure to dissolve the House of Representatives.
On October 19, the House of Representatives election was officially announced.
1051 candidates from the nine major parties of the ruling and opposition parties in Japan will compete for a total of 465 seats in the small constituency and proportional representation, including 289 small constituency seats and 176 proportional representation seats.
When Kishida assumed the post of president of the Liberal Democratic Party in September, he regarded the ruling party's winning of more than half of the seats (233 seats) as the winning line.
On October 31st, voters will make a formal decision to determine whether the self-government regime can continue to govern together.
Since the House of Representatives was dissolved and voted for only 17 days, this election was also regarded as a "rare short-term election", setting the shortest record since World War II.
In this regard, public opinion believes that Fumio Kishida announced the general election as soon as he took office, and he also hoped to draw some "impression votes" when the current situation of the epidemic in Japan is slowing down, and when voters still have "freshness" about the new prime minister.
In addition, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won the House of Representatives election in a "short-term decisive battle" in 2014 and 2017, making Kishida hope to replicate Abe's successful experience.
Data map: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Kishida's "Life and Death Battle"
Abe's street help canvassing, ruling and opposition to strengthen confrontation posture
This rare "short-term election campaign" is also the "life and death battle" of Fumio Kishida.
Once the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito Party cannot keep power, Kishida will take over the title of "shortest-lived" prime minister of Japan.
A few days ago, nine political parties from the ruling and opposition parties fought fiercely around various policies, and the leaders of all parties took to the streets and delivered speeches.
The Liberal Democratic Party cadres also issued a notice entitled "The Situation is Urgent", demanding that they do their utmost to obtain votes.
Shinzo Abe also actively "end" to canvass votes for the ruling party and played a crisis card.
He specifically pointed out that if the opposition Cadet Party gains power, "it will undoubtedly cause the loss of the trust relationship between the Japan-US alliance."
The opposition parties, with the Cadets and the Communist Party of Japan as the core, have intensified their confrontational attitude towards this political decisive battle.
The Communist Party of Japan stated that it "will do its best to achieve regime change," and the Cadet Party stated that it will strive for the election of all its candidates.
On August 16, local time, Tokyo Dome Stadium in Japan became the new crown vaccination center.
Focus on "Pandemic and Economy"
What are the highlights of the House of Representatives election?
In the past year, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was trapped in the “quagmire” of both the epidemic and the economic deterioration, and his approval rate has been declining.
These two issues, which are of vital importance to Japan, have naturally become the "keywords" of this House of Representatives election.
The leaders of all parties stated that responding to the new crown epidemic is an important issue at present.
"Practical use of oral therapeutic drugs within this year" is one of Kishida's primary propositions.
Statistics show that he mentioned the term "medicine" eight times in a street speech.
In the economic field, Fumio Kishida advocated "new capitalism", advocating to increase the income of the middle class through a virtuous circle of growth and distribution.
The Komeito Party proposed that all children under the age of 18 be given a subsidy equivalent to 100,000 yen.
However, Yukio Edano, the leader of the opposition Cadet Party, said that "Abenomics" has fixed the gap between the rich and the poor and exacerbated poverty, while Kishida's concept is "changing the soup without changing the medicine."
He advocated letting the wealthy class and large enterprises bear the corresponding burden and redistributing income to the low-income group.
At the same time, Japanese media are also concerned that the election continues to feature Japan’s “hereditary politics”.
Although there have been many new faces among the candidates, their names are familiar, and many of them come from Japanese political families.
According to statistics, 104 of the 336 candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party have political backgrounds in their families; in the Cadet Party, this proportion has reached 12.1%.
On October 4, local time, Fumio Kishida, President of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, was elected as the 100th Prime Minister after being named by the Prime Minister in a plenary session of the House of Representatives.
The picture shows Fumio Kishida (middle) standing up to thank him.
The ruling party has a higher chance of winning?
How to get ahead in Japan
Although the current election campaign was very fierce, analysis generally believes that considering that the Liberal Democratic Party almost monopolized the ruling power of Japan after World War II, coupled with the assistance of its ally, the Komeito Party, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party is expected to continue to be in power.
However, Japanese mainstream media predicts that the Liberal Democratic Party will have fewer seats in this House of Representatives election.
For Kishida Fumio, who took office only a few weeks ago, even if he wins this election, he will face many challenges in the future.
Internally, as the autumn and winter seasons are approaching, the epidemic situation in Japan may once again fall into a severe situation.
Whether Kishida's anti-epidemic policy can be implemented is still unknown.
Economic policies need to be implemented on the basis of stabilizing the epidemic.
However, the analysis believes that the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor in Japan has long been concealed under the illusion of economic growth. Although Kishida will start from "whitewashing" the cabinet and make some minor repairs in the future, it is still difficult to fundamentally. solve this problem.
Externally, although the Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone of Japan's diplomatic and security policies, it remains to be seen whether the Kishida government can take effective measures to repair relations with "neighbors" in Japan's relations with Russia and South Korea.
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