Senate elections in Japan, between continuity and youth abstention
A local campaign poster billboard for the upper house election on Monday, July 4, 2022, in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
AP - Eugene Hoshiko
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In Japan, the senatorial elections are held this Sunday, July 10.
In a terrible context, after the assassination, Friday, July 8, of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Some analysts wonder if this tragedy will not favor a legitimist vote by the electorate: a vote in favor of the party in power, for the sake of security and stability.
Young people will not vote.
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With our correspondents in Tokyo,
Political parties say his death is an attack on the foundations of democracy.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, of which Shinzo Abe was one of the most influential members, is assured of a majority of seats in the upper house of the Japanese Parliament.
The political priorities of Shinzo Abe, central figure of the conservative party, will survive his death, recalls our correspondent
Frédéric Charles.
During these senatorial elections, his party, which has dominated Japanese political life since 1955, will benefit from a wave of sympathy.
People pray outside a makeshift memorial at the site where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot while delivering his speech in support of the Liberal Democratic Party candidate during an election campaign in Nara on Friday, July 8 2022.AP
Play a larger military role
Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will have a comfortable majority to eventually double the defense budget from 1% to 2% of GDP.
Since the war in Ukraine, Japan has decided to play a greater military role alongside its American ally.
The conservative party seeks to revise the pacifist Constitution of which Shinzo Abe has made himself the cantor.
The rapprochement between China and Russia forces Japan to reconsider its pacifism.
Fumio Kishida also wants to restart nuclear reactors that have been shut down since the Fukushima accident.
Japan produces 88% of its electricity with coal and imported gas at a cost made prohibitive by the weakness of the yen.
Young Japanese little mobilized
In any case, a priori
, we should
not expect a high participation rate from young people, notes our correspondent in Tokyo,
Bruno Duval
.
In the archipelago, in fact, the 20-30 year olds are very depoliticized, as this testimony from this young Japanese demonstrates: “
Like most young people, I have always heard my parents say that politics and questions of money, these are the two subjects to never discuss in public if you want to avoid arguments.
Suddenly, the parties, the right, the left and all that, I really do not understand anything.
»
At election time, about two-thirds of Japanese people under the age of 30 choose to abstain.
Like this young Tokyoite: “
Why would I go and vote?
Our politicians have nothing to do with young people: their priority is the old
”, or even this young man: “
The right has governed our country for decades.
Whether I vote or not, alas, that will not change
.
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, front row, and his mostly male, elderly ministers at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. Young Japanese people don't identify with the political class.
AP - Issei Kato
Studies show that more young girls than young boys do not take part in elections, and for good reason: whether in Parliament, in the regions or at the local level, 80% of Japanese elected officials are men.
In this political class, which is quite old, sexist or misogynistic statements are frequent and most of the time go unpunished.
This deters many young women voters from voting.
A situation that some young men understand: "
I do not see myself voting for these old-fashioned politicians to the point of being indifferent to the two social problems that shock us, young people: discrimination inflicted on LGBT people and inequality between men. -women
”.
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To read also: Japan: reinforced security and questions about the motivations of Shinzo Abe's assassin
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Japan
Shinzo Abe
Fumio Kishida