Politics
Japan’s ruling coalition at risk of losing majority in election, exit polls show
Japan’s ruling coalition could lose its majority in parliament in Sunday’s general election, according to exit polls, after suffering losses amid voter anger over a funding scandal and the cost of living crisis in the world’s fourth-biggest economy.
A poll by the national broadcaster NHK showed that the Liberal Democratic party (LDP), which has ruled Japan almost without interruption since the mid-1950s, and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, were set to win between 174 and 254 of the 465 seats in the lower house of parliament.
The main opposition Constitutional Democratic party (CDP) is predicted to win 128 to 191 seats. The outcome may force the LDP or CDP into power-sharing agreements with other parties to form a government. The official result is not expected until Monday morning.
The LDP’s ability to form a government will depend on whether it can continue as the senior partner in a coalition with Komeito, a much smaller party that was also projected to lose seats. The two parties together need 233 seats to retain a majority.
While the result is not a repeat of the political seismic shock of 15 years ago – an unprecedented defeat for the LDP – it has left the party significantly weakened and will raise questions about the future of the recently installed prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.
Ishiba had warned that the LDP had work to do to regain public trust after months of controversy over MPs’ undeclared slush funds. “We want to start afresh as a fair, just and sincere party, and seek your mandate,” he told supporters on the eve of the vote.
Ishiba, a former defence minister, became the party’s president – and Japan’s new prime minister – last month after his predecessor, Fumio Kishida, announced he was stepping down to take responsibility for the funding scandal.
Dozens of LDP lawmakers were found to have siphoned unreported profits from the sale of tickets to party gatherings into slush funds.
Several senior figures were disciplined, and the party withdrew its support for several candidates in Sunday’s vote – moves that failed to repair the damage inflicted by the funding scandal.
Ishiba, who is battling low approval ratings just weeks into his premiership, was wrongfooted days before the vote when the media reported that the party had given millions of yen in campaign funds to local party chapters whose candidates had lost the party’s endorsement.
Japan’s longsuffering opposition was pinning its hopes on the scandal triggering a repeat of the 2009 lower house election, the last time the LDP was deposed.
The CDP leader, Yoshihiko Noda, accused the LDP of ignoring the needs of ordinary people, as polls said most voters wanted action on rising prices, as well as tax cuts and wage rises. “The LDP’s politics are all about quickly implementing policies for those who give them lots of cash,” Noda told supporters on Saturday. “But vulnerable people have been ignored.”
Takeshi Ito, a 38-year-old voter, said he would support the LDP in the absence of a viable alternative.
“Even if I were to switch to an opposition party, it’s still unclear whether they could push forward reforms, and I don’t know if I can trust them or not at this point,” Ito said. “I want to see the party in power continue to move forward.”
Martin Amaewhule, Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Tori News reports Amaewhule defected along with 15 other members of the House on Friday.
Amaewhule said the defection is due to clear division in the PDP.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state earlier this year in March, suspending the Governor, Sim Fubara and his Deputy alongside members of the State Assembly.
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bode George, has intensified his call for the establishment of state police to contain the wave of insecurity in Nigeria.
George made this call on Friday when he appeared during an interview on Arise Television monitored by Ekwutosblog.
He was reacting to the worsening insecurity situation in the country where innocent Nigerians, including women and schoolchildren are kidnapped and others killed in the process.
“First of all, what is wrong with establishing state police? We have seen nobody is going to cancel the Federal Police, but policing is local.
“When you now turn the boys who live in the same area and legalize their existence to put smiles on the faces of the people, it will be better to manage because they will understand the language of the locals. They know the do’s and don’ts in their own area. So why are we wasting time?
“I am happy I read something last week after the Arewa Consultative meeting in the North. They met and took a decision that they have agreed to a state police.
“Then the Southwest met with their governors, and the governors’ statement made after that conference is that they also accept having state police.
“What are we wasting time for? Because the way it is, you don’t even know who is telling the truth or who is telling the lie,” he said.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, on Friday declared that he’s still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Wike’s comment followed his expulsion from the party by the faction led by National Chairman, Kabiru Turaki.
Turaki had formally dispatched expulsion certificates to 11 prominent party chieftains, including Wike, former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Umaru Bature, Kamarudeen Ajibade, SAN, Abdurahman Muhammad Senator Mao Ohuabunwa.
He said their expulsion was aimed at sanitising the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
Reacting to the development on Friday, Wike dismissed the claim while assuring that he would continue to work with other party members in making PDP a relevant opposition party.
The minister spoke while addressing journalists after inspecting the Interchange bridge and road linking Gwarinpa with Jahi and direct to Katampe, Gishiri and Maitama.
He said, “Those that are factionalized are bound to leave the party, I’m still in PDP and you can see that not everybody has left.
“We still have good numbers and we will continue to work together and that’s what I have said to the party. Put your house in order because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that is losing.
“So those who are worried, we can work together to see how the party can remain a relevant opposition.”
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