Japan at the Polls
NAOI, TAKEO
Political spectrum altered only by shift in Opposition Japan at the Polls By Takeo Naoi TOKYO ON SUNDAY, November 20, Japan went to the polls to elect a new House of Representatives and to...
...The organization of the local chapters was completed only last July...
...attacked the Communists for violence and extremism in the labor movement...
...The DSP, disconcerted, withdrew the plan overnight...
...and organization and propaganda efforts were not able to take root in the short period before the election...
...An editorial in Asahi pointed out: "The middle-of-the-road policy of the moderate DSP exercised a favorable influence on the conduct of both conservative and socialist parties...
...The LDP's position was affected neither by the humiliating circumstances of ex-Premier Nobusuke Kishi's resignation nor the cancellation of President Eisenhower's visit in June...
...With its ex-leader, Inej iro Asanuma, dead, it was relieved of the burden of the notorious statement he made as party chairman: "America is the common enemy of Japan and China...
...The sharp setback for the DSP, however, was a shock to its members and to those who had placed their hopes in the DSP for the future of parliamentary politics...
...Almost all Japan's recent difficulties have stemmed from this, and the DSP was initially supposed to have provided this Opposition...
...Nor was the DSP election campaign satisfactory...
...Their 23-seat loss corresponds exactly to the JSP gain...
...which previously held 40 seats, managed to return only 17 men...
...There was an opportunity to show its true merit during the May and June riots, but through lack of courage and insight the DSP did not seize it...
...Saburo Eda, now acting Chairman, repeatedly proclaimed before the election that the party would send a good will mission to the U.S...
...In addition, last April the Democratic Socialists persuaded the Liberal Democrats to accept a compromise plan on handling the Security Pact in the Diet...
...DSP chairman Suehiro Nishio attributes the failure to poor organizational support...
...In domestic and foreign policy it tempered its tune and proposed "planning" instead of "nationalization" of important industries...
...Senator Mike Mansfield's report which advocated taking into account the "neutralist mood" among the Japanese and Japanese desires to avoid becoming involved in a war...
...On the other hand, the Socialist party was clever enough to avoid the brunt of DSP and LDP attack after the summer...
...Nishio's "boom" originated from this popular expectation, but the "boom" evaporated and disappeared altogether after the "do-nothing" impression the party gave...
...The party made the best of U.S...
...Had it been courageous enough to stand up to such abuse and had the plan been realized, the Socialists could not have resorted to the disorder in the Diet and the rioting that occurred...
...The Liberal Democratic party (LDP) emerged with 296 seats, a new postwar record for a single party...
...Yet it did receive some appreciation in the election...
...Although the Democratic Socialists sustained a tragic defeat, their strong faith in parliamentary government led the other two parties to reflect on their own behavior...
...What is lacking in today's parliamentary set-up is the presence of a responsible Opposition...
...The plan envisaged completion of deliberations on the Pact around May 15 and ratification within a month...
...winning 145 seats, while the Democratic Socialist party (DSP...
...They also promised to pay more attention in the future to the economic welfare of the workers, and less to political matters...
...But when the plan was reported in the press, the Socialists vehemently attacked the Democratic Socialists for alleged "help" to the conservatives, and called the DSP "the second conservative party...
...Now reduced to only 17 members in the House of Representatives, the DSP is faced with a grim future...
...The Socialist party (JSP) made much larger gains than expected...
...It criticized the ruling party for "violence of the majority" and "unilateral decisions in the Diet," but did not create a positive position as a "responsible and reliable opposition" that it is...
...The JSP announced that its "splendid advance" was a victory for "neutralism" and the struggles against the U.S.-Japanese Security Pact of the past months...
...The JSP constantly appealed to this mood, but apparently that did not disturb a large majority of voters who supported the LDP...
...Political spectrum altered only by shift in Opposition Japan at the Polls By Takeo Naoi TOKYO ON SUNDAY, November 20, Japan went to the polls to elect a new House of Representatives and to settle accounts with the unhappy events of last summer...
...The party did not and could not develop its own program during the fateful political disorders of last summer and therefore gave the general impression of a "do-nothing" party...
...The Socialists wrested their "victory" not from the ruling Liberal Democrats, but from the Democratic Socialists...
...The party also vowed not to use violence again and during the campaign Kaoru Ohta and Akira Iwai, President and Secretary General of the General Council of Japanese Trade Unions (SOHYO...
...The political spectrum was altered only by the shift within the Opposition parties...
Vol. 43 • December 1960 • No. 49
