Political Reform in Japan: Leadership Looming Large by Alisa Gaunder

Author:Alisa Gaunder [Gaunder, Alisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, Public Policy, Leadership, Campaigns & Elections, Social Policy, Social Science, Political Science, Political Process, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781134118540
Google: GvJ9AgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 17478270
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2007-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

Ozawa’s successful attempt to realize reform

The window of opportunity for reform

Ozawa was at the center of national attention after he and over forty of his fellow party members broke away from the LDP after the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Miyazawa. After leaving the LDP, Ozawa immediately formed a new party, the Shinseitō (the New Renewal Party); however, it was not clear that Ozawa would be able to maintain any influence outside the LDP. What was clear was that reform was popular with both politicians and the public. In fact, the passage of the no-confidence motion confirmed the salience of reform.

Reform was the issue in the July 1993 Lower House election that followed the no-confidence vote. The investigation of politicians involved in the Sagawa Kyūbin scandal exposed additional scandals. Most of these scandals involved the construction industry giving bribes to political officials in return for government contracts. Since scandals kept being uncovered, political reform remained on the agenda.

Scandals were not the only thing keeping reform salient. The failure of the Miyazawa administration to pass reform prompted the no-confidence vote. The fact that this failure was the last item of business in the Diet before the election made the issue that much more prominent. Moreover, many politicians began staking their careers on reform, including Ozawa Ichirō.

New parties, reform, and voter confusion characterized this election. Three new parties emerged – Sakigake (the Harbinger Party), the Shinseitō (the New Renewal Party), and the Japan New Party (JNP). Both Sakigake and the Shinseitō were LDP breakaway parties. Under the leadership of Takemura Masayoshi, about a dozen predominantly second-generation former LDP Diet members formed Sakigake. The Shinseitō, Ozawa’s party, consisted of 44 pro-reformers who had been part of the LDP, many of whom had only been elected to the Diet one or two times. The other new party of note was the Japan New Party (JNP) under the leadership of Hosokawa Morihiro. Unlike the two aforementioned parties, this party was predominately a grassroots party with a few ex-LDP politicians among its ranks. Hosokawa had a broad view of reform. He advocated deregulation of the bureaucracy and decentralization of the national government in addition to electoral reform. All these parties emphasized their newness, as well as their commitment to reform. In fact, due to the fact that these parties all supported some version of political reform, voters had a hard time distinguishing among parties in the election.

The new parties performed strongly in the 1993 election. Hosokawa’s Japan New Party increased its number of seats in the Lower House from zero to thirty-five, mainly at the expense of the Japan Socialist Party (JSP). However, both LDP and JSP candidates lost votes in districts where new party candidates ran. Interestingly enough, LDP and JSP candidate vote totals were much less affected in districts where no new party candidate ran (Kabashima and Reed 2001: 631). In districts where new parties fielded candidates a trend towards voting for change and the alternation of power did emerge (Kabashima and Reed 2001: 637).

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