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Japan Times
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Will the movement seeking Ishiba's resignation succeed?
As the Liberal Democratic Party prepares for a joint plenary meeting of its parliamentary members Friday, beleaguered Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba continues to face calls to resign over the party's poor performance in the July 20 Upper House election. The calls appear to come from a wide range of national and local LDP lawmakers, from younger members to former senior officials. But at the center of this movement are the same faces as ever — veteran political rivals and disgruntled conservative members of a now-dissolved party faction previously headed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who often clashed with Ishiba. 'Currently, votes from the younger generations (teens to those in their 40s) are drifting away from the LDP. Our division has been sounding the alarm about this for quite some time,' Yasutaka Nakasone, director of the party's youth division, told reporters after a July 25 meeting with Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama. 'We have repeatedly proposed policies targeting the younger generation. But these have not been adequately reflected in party policies. The responsibility of the party leadership, including the party president (Ishiba), is extremely grave, and we strongly demand that they take decisive action,' he added, in what amounted to a call for Ishiba to resign. In addition, former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi has suggested that Ishiba step aside. "We need to make a fresh start to reconstruct the party by appointing new executive members, including the leader," he said during a July 27 broadcast on his YouTube channel. Motegi ran against Ishiba in the LDP presidential election in September last year. But the loudest voices calling for the prime minister's head are coming from veteran political rivals, some of whom were caught up in a political slush funds scandal that led to the dissolution of the Abe faction and several others. On a July 29 TV Asahi program, Lower House member and former senior Abe faction member Hiroshige Seko — forced to leave the LDP as punishment for his role in the slush funds scandal and now an independent — said he met on July 23 with three other former Abe faction leaders also caught up in the scandal. They included Koichi Hagiuda, a former party policy research council chair, Hirokazu Matsuno, a former chief cabinet secretary, and Yasutoshi Nishimura, a former minister of economy, trade and industry. The group, Seko said, agreed it was time for Ishiba to be replaced. Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a meeting of party lawmakers at the party's headquarters in Tokyo on July 28. | JIJI Political commentator Tetsuo Suzuki says Seko, Hagiuda and Motegi are 'at the center of the movement' among party veterans to replace Ishiba as party leader. Yet there is no guarantee that either the party's younger members or the veterans who oppose Ishiba can actually succeed in convincing the rest of the party to replace him with someone else. Their efforts so far have failed to make Ishiba budge from his determination to continue. And some of those calling for him to step down may be less willing to force the issue when push comes to shove. The Abe faction was once the largest within the LDP. But it's now only about 60% of its size at the time of the September 2024 party presidential election, due to losses in the Lower House election a month later and last month's Upper House contest. That means even remaining former faction leaders may not be as unified as it might seem on the surface. 'Nishimura's recent media comments indicate he's not particularly enthusiastic about the movement to oust Ishiba,' Suzuki says. Furthermore, it's not certain how many former members of a faction led by Motegi — also since dissolved — will back the former secretary-general to go up against Ishiba, the political commentator added. Heading into Friday's plenary meeting, Ishiba will continue to face calls to resign from a wide swath of LDP members. But it's unclear whether his core opponents behind the effort still have the broader political strength within the party that is needed to make that happen.
Japan Times
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Is Japan's parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Amid a litany of complaints over younger people having scarce interest in politics, a quiet movement to expand the next generation's access to the political arena is slowly gaining traction. After years on the fringes, a long-standing debate to lower the age requirement for running for public office has slowly reached the political center of Nagatacho. In March, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party set up an internal panel on the subject, conducting hearings with civic associations and representatives of local governments to gauge their mood over the possibility of a legislative change. 'There's no doubt it's a good thing for young generations to be able to express their views in the legislative arena and have them reflected in concrete policies,' Lower House lawmaker Yasutaka Nakasone, head of the party's youth caucus, said in early remarks, adding that many young people had contacted him since the panel was set up. 'Our discussions should be based on the premise that the right to run for office shouldn't be restricted, and that voters should have the right to choose their representatives,' he said. Moderating the discussion was the secretary general of the panel, Koki Ozora, who, at 26, is currently the youngest sitting lawmaker in the Lower House. Ozora is 30 years younger than the average Lower House lawmaker's 56.6 years, as of April. Widely known among the general public as the founder of a nonprofit organization offering counseling services to teenagers struggling with loneliness and mental health problems, Ozora was first elected to the Lower House in last October's general election. Japan's election law sets the minimum age to run for the Lower House, regional and local assemblies, as well as mayoral positions in small municipalities, at 25. For those aiming for the Upper House or prefectural governments, the requirement is at least 30 years old. Significantly underrepresented Among the world's largest democracies, Japan has some of the highest minimum age requirements for politicians. Only five countries in the OECD— Japan, Colombia, Greece, Italy and the United States — set 25 as the age requirement to run in their lower chambers, data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an association gathering world parliaments, indicates. Like Japan, many countries set a higher age requirement for their upper chambers — which often have a different role to their lower counterparts. At the same time, many countries, including France and South Korea, have recently adopted the same age requirements for being eligible to vote in an election and to run for office. Lower House lawmaker Yasutaka Nakasone speaks at a Liberal Democratic Party panel on revising the age requirement to run for office, on Thursday. | Gabriele Ninivaggi In Japan, while the age requirement to vote in an election was lowered from 20 to 18 in 2015, the requirement to run for office has stayed the same since the enactment of the Constitution. The government has long justified the current age requirement for electoral eligibility as being based 'on the expectations that individuals possess sound judgment and discretion gained through life experience.' This interpretation doesn't seem to sit well with young lawmakers. 'There's no reason for there to be a difference between the Lower House and the Upper House,' said the Democratic Party for the People's Kai Odake, another 26-year-old lawmaker elected in the Lower House last October. 'The age requirement to run for office shouldn't be different from the one to vote in an election.' Odake — who secured his seat at just 26 years and five months of age — says he was once barred from running in a local election due to the age requirement, missing eligibility by roughly 20 days. Lawmakers who are 40 or younger remain significantly underrepresented in Japan's parliament, accounting for less than 7% of lawmakers in the Lower House. On the other hand, youth turnout remains low. In the 2021 general election, only 36.5% of voters in their 20s went to the polls, with the number slightly rising for those between the ages of 18 and 19. 'I think very few people genuinely see the requirement as a fundamental problem,' said Odake. 'In the end, the people who are affected by this issue are not directly involved in the debate.' Fighting to participate Protesting political inaction over the age requirement, in 2023 a group of six young plaintiffs decided to take legal action. After filing to run in the Kanagawa gubernatorial election, only for her candidacy to be rejected due to the age requirement, Momoko Nojo — the founder of 'No Youth, No Japan,' an organization active in promoting youth participation in politics — and some of her peers filed a lawsuit against the government. Nojo argues the current age requirement goes against the Constitution, which enshrines suffrage as a universal right. Since then, she has worked to raise awareness over the issue. 'I haven't met great resistance in my activities, but even the people who showed some interest in my cause wouldn't take any action,' Nojo said, arguing that the case — currently on trial at the Tokyo District Court — was a catalyst for political action. Momoko Nojo | COURTESY OF MOMOKO NOJO The first verdict of the trial is expected in June. Arguments in favor of a higher age requirement include concerns about insufficient qualifications and what is known as the "candidacy deposit" — a sum each prospective candidate must secure to run for office. That sum — often paid by the party for candidates who have secured an official party recommendation — amounts to ¥3 million ($21,000) for single seat-constituencies in the Lower House and gets confiscated if the candidate doesn't reach a certain number of votes. Some see this as a burden for young generations. However, a glimpse at the political platforms of the biggest parties would suggest that, at this stage, there is a degree of bipartisan consensus on the need for legislative action. In the last few years, some opposition parties — namely the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Nippon Ishin no Kai — have even submitted bills to parliament aiming for legislative change that would see the age requirement for the Lower House lowered to 18, though with little success. Now, even parties in the ruling coalition have turned their attention to the issue, with the LDP panel expected to make a formal policy proposal next month. 'Even if young people can express their opinions outside of the policy process, it's hard to make your voices heard when you're not in the room,' Nojo said, as she showed the results of research showing that the presence of younger candidates has an impact on youth turnout in local elections. It's about having a seat at the table, she added. Following a large-scale political scandal embroiling the LDP, the law regulating the handling of political funding was revised twice only in the last year. A third amendment is expected at the end of the ongoing parliamentary session. At the same time, the rise in uncontested seats in local elections nationwide, together with recent controversies surrounding the nature of election campaigning, calls for greater flexibility and comprehensive action on the systemic issues of electoral politics. In such a complex landscape, all the work needs to be incremental, suggests Nojo. 'It's not magic; I don't think that lowering the eligibility age is going to solve everything,' she said. 'But I think it can be the first step in a positive direction.'
