Party chiefs seek support on 1st weekend in Japan lower house race
Leaders of both Japan's ruling and opposition parties called for voters' support Saturday, the first weekend since the official campaign period for the Feb. 8 House of Representatives election kicked off Tuesday.
In the city of Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, stressed the need to strengthen the country's economic security and to turn the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector into a growth industry.
Vowing to promote investments in domestic industries related to economic security, Takaichi sought understanding for her responsible yet proactive fiscal policy. On the farm industry, she said, "We'll work to increase the number of agricultural areas capable of exporting (their produce)."
Yoshihiko Noda, co-leader of the new major opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, took to the streets in the city of Kasukabe in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo. Criticising the LDP for endorsing candidates who were involved in the party's high-profile "slush fund" scandal, he said that the ruling party "has not reflected on the issue at all."
Hirofumi Yoshimura, head of the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP's coalition partner, called for the public's support for lowering social insurance premiums, in an address in the city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.
In the Saitama city of Asaka, Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki called for increasing deductions for the residential tax. "We aim to further increase (people's) take-home pay" by combining the envisioned hike in the tax deductions and a proposed system to refund some of social insurance premiums, he said.
Japanese Communist Party chief Tomoko Tamura in Tokyo criticised Takaichi for not mentioning a consumption tax cut once the election campaign period started.
Visiting Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, western Japan, Reiwa Shinsengumi co-chief Akiko Oishi vowed to implement economic measures for the people, including scrapping the consumption tax.
In an address in the western city of Wakayama, Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya voiced his hopes for the Takaichi administration's policies on foreign nationals. Still, he said, "If the LDP holds too much power, things may return to the way they were before."
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
