Unpacking Japan’s post-election narratives

COMMENTARY / Japan

Unpacking Japan’s post-election narratives

The Lower House election did no play out as many predicted

With the way the Lower House election unfolded, no one should be surprised if the LDP-Komeito ruling coalition loses a simple majority in the next Upper House election. | REUTERS

By Kuni Miyake
Contributing Writer

Nov 4, 2021

Contrary to the mainstream media’s predictions, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party comfortably won a stable majority of 276 seats against unified opposition party candidates in the Oct. 31 Lower House election. The major newspapers’ editorials, however, were more divided than united over the results.

A conservative Sankei Shimbun editorial, for example, called the election a victory for the LDP and a “failure of the ‘joint struggle’ by the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party.” It argued that “Kishida must achieve results with the new stable majority” and said “it’s time to get serious about deterring China.”

The liberal Mainichi Shimbun, in contrast, asserted that “the prime minister must manage the government with humility” because the “failure of big-name politicians to win elections shows people’s distrust.” The paper urged Kishida to break with the old political ways on the grounds that “the nine years of the Shinzo Abe administration have seen a series of events that have eroded the public’s trust in politics.”