‘Having No Party to Support’ Party in Japan

Ahead of Japanese General Election to be held on Sunday, "Having No Party to Support" Party draws attention. The name of party sounds interesting, which intends to draw voters who have no party to support. The party leader is Sano Hidemitsu and his mother-in-law is the party candidate in Hokkaido proportional representation district. In Japan, voters need to write the name of a candidate or a political party in the ballot. Attentions are drawn to the election results as the Japanese National Election Commission said voters’ writing of "Don’t have any party to support" or "No supporting" will be regarded as a valid vote for this party. If such a political party is made in Korea, the party may be able to obtain great number of votes.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pursued economic revival and the right to collective self-defense under the motto of "Strong Japan." While approval rates for the party recently dropped, he decided to dissolve parliament`s lower house. According to recent polls in Japan, a coalition party between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito Party is likely to win the election and return to power. However, it is not because voters support the LDP. It is because majority of Japanese people think, “The Democratic Party of Japan, main opposition party, is less reliable than the LDP.”

It looks quite similar to Korean politics. A recent poll conducted by Realmeter on Monday shows that the approval rate for the ruling Saenuri Party is 42.6 percent, followed by the New Politics Alliance for Democracy with 22.7 percent and political independents with 26.0 percent. However, it is Korean politics’ characteristics that election results are mostly 51 versus 49 between the ruling and main opposition parties, with independent candidates or the third party left out. While voters are looking for an alternative out of the existing political parties, evidenced by "Ahn Cheol-soo syndrome" or "favors for Ban Ki-moon," they end up with voting for a political party in an election. This makes a stark contrast to Japan where 99 percent of elected local government heads in the regional election are independent candidates.

"Abhorrence of politics" is a global phenomenon. But it seems uniquely worse in Korea. Most part of the abhorrence has been caused by politicians themselves. Not a few times, Korean politicians lacking in abilities have fought each other cursing and hustling and became criticized by the public. Without due-respect to the public and politics, a director at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent a memo to the vice minister during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee to suggest “making it into a fight between the ruling party and the main opposition party.” Cynicism on politics is a hotbed to grow dictatorship and corruption. Even though voters dislike and hate the politics, their attention to the politics and active participation in the election is the way to strengthen the root of democracy.