Photo/Illutration Ryoko Akamatsu, head of the group working to introduce a gender quota system to increase female lawmakers, speaks at an event in Tokyo on International Women’s Day on March 8. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Liberal Democratic Party has picked a female candidate to represent a Tokyo district in the next Lower House election, drawing continued criticism from both within and outside the party.

The critics are not necessarily opposed to the selection of Kaoru Fukuda, a former farm ministry bureaucrat who served as secretary to a justice minister.

They are protesting the way she was chosen.

Fukuda was picked as the LDP’s candidate for the Tokyo No. 18 district through a women-only recruitment campaign in March that received 36 applications.

The No. 18 district has long been a stronghold for former Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

The LDP’s recruitment campaign was seen by some as an insincere stunt to wrest control of the seat in the next election.

A senior female official of an opposition party criticized the recruitment as “using women for a self-serving agenda.”

In the campaign, the LDP sought a new chief of its branch for the constituency covering three western cities of Musashino, Koganei and Nishi-Tokyo, limiting applicants to women.

Hiroshi Moriyama, chairman of the LDP’s Election Strategy Committee, emphasized the significance of the women-only recruitment.

“It is extremely important to think about how to give opportunities for women to run (for Diet seats),” Moriyama said.

Still, skepticism abounds, given the LDP’s poor track record of fielding female candidates.

In the Upper House election last year, women accounted for 23.2 percent of all LDP candidates, well below the 33.2 percent share for all political parties.

In the 2021 Lower House election, Kan edged out the LDP’s Akihisa Nagashima in the Tokyo No. 18 district, which covered Musashino, Koganei and Fuchu at the time. The constituency will be rezoned from the next election.

The LDP branches for Musashino, Koganei and Nishi-Tokyo called on the party to withdraw the women-only recruitment, saying it denied men any chance to become a candidate.

In a document submitted to the party headquarters and the Tokyo chapter, the three branches said the system likely violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality under the law, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Law.

The LDP is considering the use of the women-only recruitment campaign in other constituencies.

A senior official said the party will demonstrate its determination to increase female lawmakers, but no specifics have been decided.

The LDP could face similar resistance from the party ranks.

Britain’s Labor Party has increased female lawmakers by designating constituencies where only women can run through a system called “all-women shortlists.”

Takako Imai, a professor of British politics at Seikei University, said the Labor Party recognized changes in society and laid out increasing female lawmakers as a goal for the party.

“It is vital for a political party to present what type of society it seeks to realize,” Imai said. “Simply adopting an election practice will not lead to an increase in female lawmakers.”

(Takuro Chiba contributed to this article.)

Related News