Photo/Illutration Yukio Edano, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, announces his party’s campaign pledges for the Lower House election on Sept. 7 (Koichi Ueda)

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan promised to dig deep into scandals that dogged the Abe and Suga administrations as a key campaign pledge for the Lower House election this fall.

The Sept. 7 announcement by CDP leader Yukio Edano is intended to capitalize on issues that none of the candidates running in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race this month are unlikely to go after.

The move follows a heightened sense of crisis shared by CDP lawmakers as they anticipate a flood of media reports in the days ahead about who will succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as the LDP’s new president in the Sept. 29 vote.

Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister who announced his candidacy in the leadership race, set out policy goals that include compiling supplementary budgets to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Media coverage of other LDP candidates leading up to the election will likely keep the spotlight on the ruling party while the CDP desperately tries to pick issues that will appeal to voters when the Lower House election is held, probably in October or November.

An Asahi Shimbun opinion poll in August found that only 6 percent of voters would pick the CDP in the proportional representation segment if a Lower House election was held. The comparable figure for the LDP was 32 percent.

Of the 465 members of the Lower House, 276 are from the LDP and 113 from the CDP.

Edano stressed that the CDP can achieve big change if it seizes power.

“Politics will definitely change if a new administration is formed,” he said at a news conference held in the Diet. “I want the public to know that politics will be ultimately up to who is in power. It can change overnight.”

The CDP’s campaign pledges Edano revealed that day boil down to seven points.

The party will call for at least 3 billion yen ($272 billion) in supplementary budgetary funding to shore up health care systems fraying at the seams due to the flood of COVID-19 patients.

The CDP also said part of the funding would be used to provide additional relief to small and midsize companies hard hit by the public health crisis so they can remain in business.

It also proposed that a task force be set up under the direct oversight of the prime minister to grapple with the pandemic. The chief Cabinet secretary will head the group to ensure that all government ministries and agencies work closely together to help contain the spread of the disease.

Mounting fresh investigations into scandals involving the LDP-led administrations is another primary objective.

The CDP said it would reopen a probe into the Moritomo Gakuen scandal over the sale of state-owned land in Osaka Prefecture to private school operator Moritomo Gakuen at a massive discount. The operator enjoyed cozy ties with Akie Abe, the wife of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The party also intends to disclose documents related to the so-called Akagi file to the public. This refers to Toshio Akagi, who worked at the Finance Ministry’s Kinki Local Finance Bureau that oversaw the questionable land deal and committed suicide in 2018. He left behind written notes stating that he was forced to falsify ministry data on the murky transaction. His widow continues to push for a full investigation into the matter.

The CDP also vowed to disclose video footage of Wishma Sandamali, a 33-year-old Sri Lankan who died at a detention facility run by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Services Bureau in March. The circumstances of her death raised many questions about the way detainees are treated.

Her relatives are demanding full disclosure of the footage.

Both the Abe and Suga administrations dragged their heels in trying to get to the bottom of the story despite pressure from the opposition bloc.

The CDP is set to follow up with other detailed campaign promises from late this month.

“Our three pillars are crisis management, information disclosure and gender equality,” a senior CDP official said.


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