Photo/Illutration Kazuo Shii, the head of the Japanese Communist Party, speaks at a news conference. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Japanese Communist Party has become increasingly isolated while it tries to recover from its losses in the unified local elections in April and the continuing decline in party membership.

The JCP at one time was open to cooperate with other opposition parties to take on the ruling coalition.

But under current chief Kenta Izumi, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan is against any cooperation or partnerships in the next Lower House election.

Rising opposition party Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) has also come out staunchly against cooperating with the JCP, citing ideological differences, as has the Democratic Party for the People.

Under such circumstances, Kazuo Shii, the JCP chief, said after the two-day Central Committee meeting that ended June 25, “Our electoral strategy will be to thoroughly do everything to expand our strength under a broad perspective.”

During the early part of the recently completed ordinary Diet session, the CDP cooperated with Nippon Ishin in battling the ruling coalition. But the CDP switched course when it realized that Nippon Ishin was on its way to becoming the main opposition party.

Toward the end of the Diet session, the CDP alone submitted a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that was overwhelmingly voted down.

Despite that humiliation, Izumi made clear that the CDP would not cooperate with any other opposition party in Lower House electoral strategy.

That basically forced the JCP to take the stance of trying to expand its strength by itself.

But the results of the April unified local elections showed that will not be an easy task. The JCP lost 135 assembly seats throughout Japan, or about 10 percent of its local strength.

The party also lost seats in prefectural assembly elections, and it now has no representative in the prefectural assemblies of Niigata, Fukui, Shizuoka, Fukuoka and Kumamoto.

The party had 360,000 or so members in 1994, but as of January that number was down to 260,000. Those who continue to support the JCP are aging and declining in number.

Within the party, complaints are growing about Shii’s long tenure as party chief, which now has extended to 22 years and counting.

But during the Central Committee meeting, Shii said such attacks on his tenure were nothing more than an attack on the party itself.

While acknowledging that he has served as party chief longer than anyone in other parties, Shii said, “The criticism that has been raised has not been about any major political mistake I might have made personally or about major problems related to my character.”

The JCP’s goal in the next Lower House election is winning 6.5 million votes in the proportional representation constituencies, or about 10 percent in those constituencies, and gaining or increasing its seats in every bloc.

Its other major goal is to increase the number of single-seat districts under its control as well as hanging on to the seat in the Okinawa No. 1 district.

While the JCP has not ruled out electoral cooperation with the CDP, it has already endorsed 86 candidates in single-seat districts, including the Kyoto No. 3 district where Izumi will run for re-election.

Shii said having the JCP expand its strength would be the best way to rebuild opposition party cooperation in the future.

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