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POLITICS: Japanese Deliver Verdict on Koizumi's Troop Decision
By Edwin Karmiol
TOKYO, Jul 13 (IPS) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's humiliating blow in
Sunday's House of Councillors election could have a fallout
effect on his controversial decision to keep troops in Iraq, say
analysts.
''The election results reflected people's anger. Koizumi had too
easily followed the United States in drawing up policies on Iraq's
reconstruction,'' Toshihiro Shimizu, the secretary-general of the
Japan International Volunteer Center told IPS.
Shimizu, whose group delivers medical aid to Iraq, was scathing
of the Koizumi government.
''The decision to dispatch Japanese troops to Iraq should have
been done after proper research into what Iraqis actually need
and after proper discussion. But, no, those things were never
done,'' he said.
Prof. Takeru Ohe, who teaches at Tokyo's Waseda University
also agreed with Shimizu.
''People were disappointed that they were not consulted over
Iraq as the deployment of the SDF to Iraq could violate our
pacifist stance in the constitution,'' he told IPS.
Japan's constitution drafted with the United States after World
War II, forbids Japanese troops from engaging in the act of
combat unless the nation is under attack.
At present Japan has about 600 Self Defense Forces or SDF
based near the town of Samawah in southern Iraq - the nation's
first troop deployment under its own flag instead of the United
Nations.
Last month, Koizumi said Japanese troops would join a United
Nations-led multinational force in Iraq as long as their role is
limited to humanitarian missions. He made the commitment at
the end of the annual two-day gathering of leaders from the
Group of Eight countries in the U.S. state of Georgia.
But on Sunday, the Japanese people delivered their verdict
against Koizumi's decision.
At the House of Councillors election, Koizumi's Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP) was outperformed by the opposition
Democratic Party of Japan or DPJ.
For the first time since 1989, DPJ overtook the LDP in an
election - as official results on Monday indicated.
Of the 121 seats contested, the LDP won 49 against the 50
captured by the DPJ - the third lowest score for the LDP in an
Upper House election since the party was founded in 1955.
While the LDP fell shy of its target of winning 51 seats, the
party's alliance with the New Komeito saw it retain a solid
majority in the 242-seat Upper House.
''If anything, Sunday's House of Councilors election will probably
be remembered for the clarity of the issues voters were being
called on to judge,'' wrote the 'Japan Times' newspaper.
The outcome of Sunday's elections also highlights the growing
presence of the opposition DPJ.
''The public's willingness to support the yet untested DPJ is
interesting,'' David Satterwhite of the Fulbright Commission,
Japan, told IPS.
''It's a gradual move by Japan towards a two-party system and
that's healthy,'' he said.
Yuri Okina, a senior economist at the Japan Research Institute,
told reporters before Sunday's election that the emergence of a
second party ''able to vie for power would force the LDP to be
more responsive.''
The Tokyo-based research group is part of the Sumitomo
Financial Group Inc.
For many people interviewed by IPS, the election seemed to be
an opportunity to show their dissatisfaction with the LDP-led
government.
''I am very happy with the results. I voted for the DPJ because
there is no future with the LDP,'' said Tomo Mizukoshi, sales
director at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Masumi Horiuchi, a former dental nurse said: ''One has to stop
that party (LDP). It has always been one party.''
The LDP's setback might also force Koizumi to reconsider his
position in dealing with pending issues related to North Korea.
Moves involving North Korea, including his first visit to
Pyongyang in September 2002 for summit talks with its leader,
Kim Jong Il, had helped boost Koizumi's public support rates.
The government arranged a family reunion in Jakarta between
repatriated abductee Hitomi Soga and her family living in North
Korea just two days before Sunday's election, but the tactic
apparently did not work this time.
An exit poll jointly conducted Sunday by media companies
showed the latest support rate for the cabinet was only 35
percent after the reunion took place, while the disapproval rate
was 41 percent.
Japanese stocks rose and the yen strengthened on Monday
because Sunday's LDP setback loss was less some than
investors had expected.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed 1.4 percent
higher at 11,582.28 in Tokyo. The yen traded at 107.81 to the
dollar at 6:19 p.m., Japan time, from 108.19 in late New York
trading on Friday. It traded as high as 107.57, its strongest since
Jun. 28.
Sunday's vote may have been Koizumi's last national elections.
The next elections for half the upper house and for the 480-seat
lower house are not due until 2007, after Koizumi's term as party
head ends. (END)
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