http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/10\/22\/asia\/japan-election-results\/index.html<\/p>\n
A decision by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
\nAbe to call a snap election appears to have paid o.
\nAbe’s ruling coalition has won a clear majority with more than
\ntwo-thirds of Parliament’s 465 seats, with the Liberal
\nDemocratic Party holding a majority even without its coalition
\npartner, the Komeito party, he told reporters Monday.
\n“We were able to earn the powerful support of the Japanese
\npeople, well surpassing our goal,” Abe said at a press
\nconference after Sunday’s vote.
\nThe win puts him on course to be post-war Japan’s longest-ever serving prime minister, and Abe is expected to
\nuse his new mandate to push for overhauls to the country’s defense strategy and pacifist stance.
\n“My immediate task is to deal with North Korea,” Abe told reporters late Sunday. “It will take tough diplomacy. With
\nthe mandate given by the people, I would like to exercise my command in diplomacy.”<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump called Abe to congratulate him Sunday night, the Japanese Prime Minister’s oce
\ntold
\nCNN. During the call, the two leaders spoke of being united on the need to increase pressure on North Korea, an
\nocial
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, in the face of an increasingly hostile North Korea, Abe set a deadline of 2020 to revise Japan’s
\nconstitution, which contains language that bans the country from maintaining armed forces. It is a controversial
\nproposal that strikes at the heart of the country’s post-war identity.<\/p>\n
Abe called the election in order to secure a two-thirds “super majority” in Parliament, which will help him achieve
\nhis goal of amending the constitution.
\nAn exit poll by public broadcaster NHK forecast a decisive win for Abe’s coalition, saying his conservative Liberal
\nDemocratic Party (LDP) would take 253 to 300 of Parliament’s 465 seats. The Komeito party is predicted to take
\n27 to 36 seats.
\nOcial
\nresults are still to be released after Typhoon Lan prevented some people from voting in parts of the country,
\nparticularly those on outlying islands. However, their votes aren’t expected to change the outcome.
\n“I must face with this victory with humility,” Abe told NHK after the exit poll results. “The voters gave us, the ruling
\nparty, a majority. This is the voice of the Japanese people, telling us to push our policies forward and come out
\nwith results.”<\/p>\n
Opposition in disarray
\nAbe’s election call was highly tactical, coming at a time when the opposition was in disarray, and Abe’s personal
\npopularity rating was beginning to pick up after months in the doldrums.
\nThe conservative Party of Hope launched by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike splintered the traditional opposition but
\nfailed to make much of a dent in Abe’s victory.
\nKoike did not herself run for a seat in Parliament as some had predicted she might, while her party failed to put
\nforward a viable candidate.
\nSpeaking to reporters in Paris, where she was Sunday on a scheduled ocial
\ntrip, Koike said voters had delivered
\n“a very harsh verdict for my party.”
\nJapanese election ocials
\nin Tokyo count ballot papers for the vote on Sunday.
\n“I had expected Hope to serve as a rallying point to counter (Abe’s) continued predominance in power. Regrettably,
\nthe party has become a target of criticism instead,” she said, appearing at times to be on the verge of tears.
\n“It is a very tough result. We will analyze the reason for the defeat.”<\/p>\n
Koichi Nakano, a professor of Japanese politics at Tokyo’s Sophia University, said Koike “basically overplayed her
\nhand.”
\n“She initially thought she had a real chance of becoming prime minister by launching her party and taking over the
\nDemocratic Party,” he said, referring to the traditional opposition force in Japanese politics that split into Koike’s
\nparty and the left-wing Constitutional Democratic party (CDP).
\nNakano said a “purge” of more liberal members from the Party of Hope’s rolls left it with few credible candidates
\nand hurt Koike’s standing with some former Democrat voters.
\n“The problem is that Koike is not really an opposition politician,” he added, pointing to her history in Abe’s LDP.
\nWhile some, particularly on the left, had bemoaned the weakening of the opposition, Nakano said the emergence
\nof the CDP as more popular than Koike’s party has left “what looks like the nucleus of a more competent
\nopposition maybe shaping around (CDP President Yukio) Edano.”<\/p>\n
North Korea threat
\nJapan has faced increased hostility from North Korea in recent months, as the rogue state locks horns with the
\nTrump administration over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear programs.
\nPyongyang flew two projectiles over Japan last month, including a ballistic missile, in act of defiance against
\nWashington and the international community.
\nBut Japan’s ability to respond is limited. Its constitution does not allow Japan’s military — called the Self-Defense
\nForces — to develop significant oensive
\ncapabilities. Article 9 of the constitution says that “land, sea and air forces,
\nas well as other war potential will never be maintained.”
\nNeighbors that suered
\nunder Japanese occupation during World War II view Abe’s ambitions with concern and
\nskepticism. It’s also highly controversial in Japan itself, to the point where lawmakers came to blows debating the
\nissue in 2015.
\nBut altering Japan’s constitution is a heavy lift. Even with strong parliamentary support, such a measure must be
\napproved in a referendum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/10\/22\/asia\/japan-election-results\/index.html A decision by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to call a snap election appears to have paid o. Abe’s ruling coalition has won a clear majority with more than two-thirds of Parliament’s 465 seats, with the Liberal Democratic Party holding a majority even without its coalition partner, the Komeito party, he told reporters Monday. “We were able to earn… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}