Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former prime minister of the Liberal Democratic Party, was gunned down at a campaign stop on Friday. Just two days later, his party swept to a supermajority in Japan’s midterm elections.
The Liberal Democrats and their partners have garnered enough seats to form a supermajority, meaning they can now amend the country’s pacifist constitution. Their landslide victory was a clear indication that Mr. Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, remained a guiding political force. Despite not actively serving in the government at the time of his assassination, his legacy could be felt at the ballot box and in his party’s vision for the future.
“I have the responsibility to take over the ideas of former Prime Minister Abe,” Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister, said Saturday. By Monday morning, the Liberal Democrats and their partners had won enough seats to amend a clause in the Constitution imposed by postwar American occupiers barring the use of war. By winning 87 seats, or 70 percent of the upper house, the party eclipsed its last supermajority in 2016.
However, even with their supermajority, many things still stand to cast down the plan. With inflation pressures mounting, the yen weakening, and a spike in coronavirus infections, amending the Constitution “is a kind of luxury good,” according to Tobias Harris, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
In a time of hardship, voters seem more concerned with issues closer to home rather than amending the Constitution. “I’m interested in prices, wages, daily life, medical services and child care,” said Risako Sakaguchi, 29, who cast her votes in favor of Liberal Democratic candidates at a station in Saitama, a suburb of Tokyo. Many others share her concerns. Ayumi Sekizawa, 31, who works for a real estate company in Tokyo, said he voted for the Liberal Democrats in part to show his support after Mr. Abe’s death. However, he also said he voted for them since there were “no other good parties.” Given the aggressive nature of Russia, China, and North Korea, Sekizawa agreed that Japan needed to strengthen its military capabilities. Yet, his main concerns were closer to home: “I’m interested in the economy… Wages should be raised, otherwise, virtually, our living standard is declining.”
Now that Mr. Abe — who was in office for over eight years — is gone, there is a clear power vacuum among the senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Mr. Kishida is now in what Japanese politicians refer to as the “golden period”, meaning he can consolidate power due to not being legally required to call another election for three years.
But history is against him. Ever since the end of World War Two, notable prime ministers have typically been followed by “a revolving door of forgettable faces,” according to Carol Gluck, a professor of history and specialist in modern Japan at Columbia University. For example, Yoshihide Suga, Mr. Kishida’s successor and predecessor of Mr. Abe, lasted just a year before resigning after his approval ratings plunged.
Within his party, Mr. Abe was a kingmaker, whose words and influence resonate far beyond his time in office. Even after Japan fell behind China in world economic rankings, he extended his party’s influence by holding together the multinational trade agreement Trump pulled out of. And at home, he put the Japanese economy back on the map after years of mediocrity.
The Liberal Democrats and their partners have garnered enough seats to form a supermajority, meaning they can now amend the country’s pacifist constitution. Their landslide victory was a clear indication that Mr. Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, remained a guiding political force. Despite not actively serving in the government at the time of his assassination, his legacy could be felt at the ballot box and in his party’s vision for the future.
“I have the responsibility to take over the ideas of former Prime Minister Abe,” Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister, said Saturday. By Monday morning, the Liberal Democrats and their partners had won enough seats to amend a clause in the Constitution imposed by postwar American occupiers barring the use of war. By winning 87 seats, or 70 percent of the upper house, the party eclipsed its last supermajority in 2016.
However, even with their supermajority, many things still stand to cast down the plan. With inflation pressures mounting, the yen weakening, and a spike in coronavirus infections, amending the Constitution “is a kind of luxury good,” according to Tobias Harris, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.
In a time of hardship, voters seem more concerned with issues closer to home rather than amending the Constitution. “I’m interested in prices, wages, daily life, medical services and child care,” said Risako Sakaguchi, 29, who cast her votes in favor of Liberal Democratic candidates at a station in Saitama, a suburb of Tokyo. Many others share her concerns. Ayumi Sekizawa, 31, who works for a real estate company in Tokyo, said he voted for the Liberal Democrats in part to show his support after Mr. Abe’s death. However, he also said he voted for them since there were “no other good parties.” Given the aggressive nature of Russia, China, and North Korea, Sekizawa agreed that Japan needed to strengthen its military capabilities. Yet, his main concerns were closer to home: “I’m interested in the economy… Wages should be raised, otherwise, virtually, our living standard is declining.”
Now that Mr. Abe — who was in office for over eight years — is gone, there is a clear power vacuum among the senior members of the Liberal Democratic Party. Mr. Kishida is now in what Japanese politicians refer to as the “golden period”, meaning he can consolidate power due to not being legally required to call another election for three years.
But history is against him. Ever since the end of World War Two, notable prime ministers have typically been followed by “a revolving door of forgettable faces,” according to Carol Gluck, a professor of history and specialist in modern Japan at Columbia University. For example, Yoshihide Suga, Mr. Kishida’s successor and predecessor of Mr. Abe, lasted just a year before resigning after his approval ratings plunged.
Within his party, Mr. Abe was a kingmaker, whose words and influence resonate far beyond his time in office. Even after Japan fell behind China in world economic rankings, he extended his party’s influence by holding together the multinational trade agreement Trump pulled out of. And at home, he put the Japanese economy back on the map after years of mediocrity.
