翻訳 62 (w)
The anti-postal service privatization group reinstatement controversy refers to the issue of politicians being allowed to rejoin the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who had been previously expelled for their opposition to the Postal Service Privatization Act during a Diet session to deliberate and vote on the privatization of the postal service that took place in 2005 (known as 郵政国会).
1 Background
1.1 Reinstatement of 11 independent Diet members
1.2 Reinstatement of formal rebels to run in House of Councillors election
1.3 Re-emergence of the issue of Hiranuma Takeo's reinstatement
1.4 Overlap of candidates in six electoral districts and 2009 House of Representatives election
2 Aftermath
Background
In 2005, in a plenary session of the House of Representatives, a number of LDP lawmakers voted against the Postal Service Privatization Act, and were subsequently not given the endorsement of the LDP at the 44th House of Representatives election for their violation of compulsory rules to adhere to the party line. The only way of becoming a member of the House of Representatives without endorsement from a political party was to run in opposition to the party's official candidate (or support candidate).
After the election, severe punishments were handed down to candidates that ran in opposition to the official candidates endorsed by the LDP, and they were urged to leave the party or face expulsion. Rebels who joined the People's New Party (Kokumin Shintо̄) and New Party Nippon were expelled, and rebel House of Representatives members who voted for Koizumi Junichirо̄ in the post-election vote to appoint the next Prime Minister were urged to leave the party.
Rebels who had been told to leave went on to support the LDP and agree to government bills with the aim of ultimately rejoining the party.
On September 26, 2006, when the role of Prime Minister and President of the LDP shifted from Koizumi Junichirо̄ to Abe Shinzо̄, 12 former rebel independent Diet members voted for Abe as leader, in a continuation of their efforts to support the LDP.
At the time, a plan to reinstate the rebel group was emerging, proposed primarily by Aoki Mikio and senior LDP members in the House of Councillors. At a meeting of influential people within the LDP held in October, the majority agreed with the plan to reinstate 12 former rebel independent Diet members. A motivation behind the plan was that the LDP needed the support of the rebel group in the upcoming 21st House of Councillors election in 2007, as many had stable support bases in rural areas. Returning to the party as LDP Diet members also presented various benefits to the former rebels, such as being able to participate in LDP meetings and receiving party subsidies.
There were also people opposed to the reinstatement of the former rebels, particularly “assassin” Diet members who had been elected in the electoral districts of the former rebels and Diet members who had been elected for the first time on a postal service privatization ticket.
The issue created division within the LDP and its lack of resolution attracted significant attention from the media and the general public.
The former rebels were reinstated, but aware that the legitimacy of the LDP was questioned at the time of the 2005 House of Representatives election, Secretary General of the LDP Nakagawa Hidenao made a clear distinction that things had changed on behalf of the party executives, calling for the rebels to “not oppose privatizing the postal service,” and to “support the Abe administration's pledges.”
Those who agreed with the reinstatement claimed they did so as an act of humanity, rather than due to consideration of election results (such as Aoki Mikio, Chairman, General Assembly of Party Members of the House of Councillors), or that there is an inherently emotional side of politics (such as Nakagawa Shо̄ichi, Chairman of the LDP Policy Bureau). In contrast to those invoking emotional reasons to ask for unconditional reinstatement, those opposed posited logical reasons, pointing out that the LDP is not a club for friends, and that the decision should be made logically, because making emotional decisions would result in public criticism (such as Nakagawa Hidenao, Secretary General of the LDP), and sought for support of the postal service privatization to be made a condition of reinstatement. As such, it became a battle between emotional and logical arguments.
The issue of reinstating the former rebels dragged on, only drawing more public attention, to the point that it became necessary to seek understanding from the public. There were also calls for arguments about the privatization of the postal service and the justification for reinstating the former rebels to be clearly explained in a public forum.
Hiranuma Takeo, former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, negotiated with the LDP as a representative of the former rebels and sought their unconditional reinstatement, though opposed the demands of the Secretary General of the LDP and representative of the LDP executive Nakagawa Hidenao. The negotiations between Secretary General Nakagawa and Hiranuma attracted attention, with focus also turning to the pair's past feuds from when they were both part of the Mitsuzuka faction within the LDP.
Also of interest was whether Hiranuma would change his mind, as he voted to oppose the bill in the vote on the postal service privatization bill after the House of Representatives election. Because of this, some people suggested Hiranuma should not be reinstated while 11 of the former rebels should be, rather than all 12 being reinstated at once. The former rebels regarded this plan as an abandonment of Hiranuma, and many expressed a desire that the whole group be reinstated at the same time.
It was also proposed that the former rebel independent Diet members could forgo reinstatement, form a political party and create an alliance with the LDP. This was considered to be a compromise between the LDP and the former rebels, as the LDP would not need to allow the reinstatement of the former rebels, but if more than five former rebels formed a political party, they could receive party subsidies.
It was decided that the matter of reinstatement should be concluded by December 2006 at the latest, as party subsidies are issued by the national treasury at the end of the year.
The decision was made to look over the reinstatement of the defeated former rebel group for the present, as their voting behavior had not been supportive of the Prime Minister's policy speech.
The cases of former rebels who had been expelled from the party as well as Nakamura Kishirо̄ and Suzuki Muneo, who left the LDP after separate corruption scandals, were not discussed in relation to reinstatement.
Reinstatement of 11 independent Diet members
On November 27, 2006, 12 former rebels submitted a reinstatement letter to the LDP executive. Hiranuma however refused to sign the letter. The letter vowed that the signatories would “work vigorously towards the realization of the Abe administration's pledges, including the privatization of the postal service,” and “guarantee[d] the resignation of any member who violates these pledges.” Hiranuma refused to sign on grounds that it was against his principles. Secretary General Nakagawa stated that, “It is necessary to explain to the public the reasons and other details surrounding the reinstatement at some time in the future.”
On December 4, 2006, the LDP Party Discipline Committee unanimously approved the reinstatement of 11 former rebels, a group that did not include Hiranuma. Members of House of Councillors who had cast votes against the privatization of the postal service and been handed down suspension from party positions and/or two year probationary periods of party membership suspensions had their probations reduced to a year, made retroactive to October 27.
When the 11 former rebels were reinstated, Prime Minister Abe is known to have greeted them with the words, “Welcome back,” however, support for the Abe cabinet plummeted from around 70% when Abe first assumed office to 50% as a result of the reinstatement.
The issue of reinstating the former rebels, alongside the suicide of Matsuoka Toshikatsu, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the mishandling of pensions records, are cited as reasons for the LDP's defeat in the 21st House of Councillors election in 2007 (resulting in the houses of the Diet being controlled by different parties from 2007 to 2009), and is also said to be the main cause of the end of the Abe cabinet.
Further complicating factors include the reinstatement occurring only a year and four months after the election that centered on the privatization of the postal service; the fact that the reinstated Diet members stated their opposition to the privatization of the postal service during the election period and after the election did not undergo a sudden change of opinion to support the privatization; and statements made by LDP leaders as well as Abe during the election campaign (such as, “Even if [the former rebels] are elected, there is nowhere they belong.”) that represented a 180 degree shift in position.
The House of Representatives seats in 2005 were allocated as follows: 296 LDP, 31 Kо̄meitо̄ Party, 113 Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), 9 Communist Party, 7 Socialist Party, 4 People's New Party, 18 independents.
Seats held by ruling parties (LDP and Kо̄meitо̄), totalled 409 out of 480, a 69% share. Previously, the two thirds majority needed for a bill to face another vote could have been disrupted by seven people rebelling, but after the election and the increase of 11 seats for the ruling parties, it required 18 people to rebel, thereby increasing the political power of the ruling parties. However, if the 31 Kо̄meitо̄ members voted against a bill in a plenary session, the political situation would have remained the same, with the ruling party exerting influence over less than two thirds of seats.
As a result of the reinstatement, there was an overlap of candidates in six electoral districts, with reinstated former rebels elected in single member districts and LDP members who failed to win in single member districts going on to win in proportional representation blocks. The LDP subsequently altered electoral districts at the next House of Representatives election.
Reinstatement of formal rebels to run in House of Councillors election
Although the reinstatement of the group of defeated former rebels had been put on hold, citing voting behavior that was unsupportive of the Prime Minister's policy speech, in February 2007, former rebel Etо̄ Seiichi, LDP member for Ōita first district, requested to be able to run in a proportional representation block in the 21st regular election for the House of Councillors held in July, which was ultimately granted. Prime Minister Abe, whose policy ideas were very similar to Etо̄'s, indicated his intention to reinstate the remaining former rebels, and Secretary General Nakagawa Hidenao, who was reluctant at first, also ultimately approved the measure, stating, “Whatever position you take now, as people with the same mindset and direction as the Prime Minister, we all have to rally together.” As a result, it was reported that other defeated former rebels could be reinstated.
In an extraordinary majority vote on March 9, the LDP Party Discipline Committee voted 10 to 7 in favor of reinstating Etо̄ Seiichi. Those opposed argued it would be inconsistent to reinstate Etо̄ alone when there were other former members of the House of Representatives who lost at election and were opposed to postal service privatization, and the previous reinstatements had resulted in a drop in support for the cabinet.
The reinstatement met with opposition from Kо̄meitо̄, who were planning on winning over those who had supported Etо̄ in Ōita in the proportionally represented block. As a result, Etо̄ was forced to close the Ōita office, stop the activities of his supporters association and move his office to Tokyo.
Fujii Takao, who had been the LDP member for the Gifu fourth district, announced that he would be switching to the House of Councillors electoral district for Gifu Prefecture. As it was established party policy that non-incumbent Diet members could not be reinstated until after the conclusion of a House of Councillors election, Fujii eventually ran as an independent with LDP support. Criticism emerged from within the LDP that the treatment of Fujii was inconsistent with the reinstatement of Etо̄ Seiichi, who went on to stand as a candidate in House of Councillors election.
As Ōno Tsuyako, LDP Diet member initially elected to the House of Councillors in 1996, was already a candidate in the two candidate Gifu Prefecture electoral district, the LDP's Gifu Prefectural Chapter tried to make Ōno the official candidate and Fujii the recommended candidate, however Ōno opposed the idea, as it would amount to vote splitting. Ōno announced her retirement from politics in the February before the July 2007 election, meaning the LDP could throw its weight behind Fujii in the Gifu Prefecture electoral district.
Etо̄ Seiichi and Fujii Takao were elected amid a heavy defeat for the LDP in the House of Councillors election in 2007. On September 7, Fujii was reinstated to the LDP. Although the decline in support was mainly due to the pension controversy and the close ties between politics and money, it can be said to have started with the reinstatement controversy.
When the DPJ submitted a bill to freeze the privatization of the postal service in the 168th Diet session, instead of voting against, Etо̄ Seiichi abstained from the vote in the plenary session of House of Councillors. Disobeying party policy yet again earned Etо̄ a stern warning from Otsuji Hidehisa, Chairman of the LDP House of Councillors' Committee.
Re-emergence of the issue of Hiranuma Takeo's reinstatement
In September 2007, it was reported that a decision had been made unofficially to reinstate Hiranuma Takeo, former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, without him needing to write a letter pledging allegiance, like the one he had refused to sign in 2006. As a result, it became expected that the group of former rebel independents who had received notice to leave the party would all be reinstated.
Suga Yoshide was made LDP Director of Election Strategy in the first reshuffled Abe cabinet in August 2007, saying, “My job is to fire people,” and in turn, Asо̄ Tarо̄, Secretary General of the LDP, and others removed Katayama Satsuki and Satо̄ Yukari from major posts within the party (Director of Public Relations Department and Deputy Secretary General). With the Abe administration in an unstable state due to consecutive scandals involving cabinet ministers, there was a sense of impending crisis within the LDP executive that they would lose at the House of Representatives election. They decided to adopt the policy of only endorsing candidates who could win at the next election, and believed that candidates with proven abilities and results were more reliable than those that won at election on a fluke, putting the so-called “Koizumi Children” in an even tougher position for the next House of Representatives election.
On September 12, Prime Minister Abe resigned, resulting in Fukuda Yasuo taking over the position and a dramatic change in the situation. Ibuki Bunmei, Secretary General of the LDP, made a statement to the effect that the simultaneous reinstatement of the defeated former rebels requested by Hiranuma was difficult. Ultimately, Hiranuma shifted his focus from reinstatement to calling for a “third party” that was neither the LDP nor the DPJ, and in this vein launched the “Hiranuma Group,” primarily centered around former rebels who had lost at the 2008 election.
Overlap of candidates in six electoral districts and 2009 House of Representatives election
Suga Yoshihide, LDP Election Strategy Committee Vice Chairman, declared an end to the so-called “Costa Rican system” of choosing election candidates, as reinstatement of former LDP members had meant that candidates overlapped in six electoral districts. The LDP executive also indicated there would be a substantial change in candidates.
There were changes in the six electoral districts where LDP members had been reinstated, such as Hosaka Takeshi moving from the Yamanashi third district, where former rebel Ono Jirо̄ was standing, to became a candidate for the October 2008 mayoral election in the city of Kai (which he went on to win), and Satо̄ Yukari moving from the Gifu first district, where former rebel Noda Seiko was running, to the Tokyo fifth district.
There was a deepening of bad feeling between candidates reinstated in 2006 who received official endorsement and LDP candidates elected in 2005 in the three electoral districts of Yamanashi second district, Tokushima second district and Saga third district. While divisions were avoided in Tokushima second district with Shichijо̄ Akira becoming a proportional representation candidate, Nagasaki Kо̄tarо̄ of Yamanashi second district and Hirotsu Motoko of Saga third district left the party and stood in opposition to the LDP candidate, resulting in a vote splitting situation.
Even when it came to a snap election in Fukuoka eleventh district, the LDP had not been able to choose between Takeda Ryо̄ta and Yamamoto Kо̄zо̄ to become a single official candidate. Right before the public announcement of the House of Representatives election, the party turned to the Costa Rican system to designate the single member district to Takeda Ryо̄ta and the proportionally represented block to Yamamoto Kо̄zо̄, thereby avoiding a split election.
In the House of Representatives election of 2009, in electoral districts where LDP candidates were subject to the issue of overlapping candidates, there were two winners and five losers out of seven, resulting in two proportional come-back opportunities (running in a proportional representation election after losing in a single member district) and three losers. When it came to LDP candidates running solely for the proportional representation block, out of the two candidates, one won and one lost. Of the three people running in an electoral district where a former LDP candidate challenged the LDP, one won and two lost.
Aftermath
Notable people who subsequently defected or were reinstated include:
Tokuda Takeshi, the DPJ recommended candidate in the House of Representatives election of 2005,
joined the LDP on December 20, 2006;
Sakamoto Tetsushi (who voted in favor of the Postal Service Privatization Act in the 2005 Diet session) stood as an independent affiliated with LDP in the LDP candidate Matsuoka Toshikatsu's electoral district of Kumamoto third district, and two years after his election loss, in July 2007, was elected in a by-election, later joining the LDP on December 18;
as a former rebel candidate who lost at the House of Representatives election of 2005, Morioka Masahiro was reinstated, having announced his candidacy in Nara first district in May 2009.
These events did not garner as much attention nor become a problem in the same way as the previously discussed reinstatement controversy.
There were huge changes in the stance of the LDP, now led by Tanigaki Sadakazu, concerning the privatization of the postal service after their loss of power at the House of Representatives election of 2009. While the LDP conducted a review of Koizumi's structural reform, the DPJ administration submitted the “Act for Partial Revision of the Postal Service Privatization Act and others” to the Diet in April 2012, key to which was a structural review of the Japan Post group, and which was jointly submitted by the LDP.
In a reverse of fates, advocates of postal service privatization were themselves treated as rebels. Nakagawa Hidenao, Suga Yoshihide and Koizumi Jinjirо̄ rebelled at the time of the vote, with Taira Masaaki leaving his seat partway through [1]. The government, wanting to bring an end to opposition to the postal service issue within the ruling party, prioritized party unity and issued a strict warning to the four lawmakers [2].
Various lawmakers were later reinstated, including Kiuchi Minoru, who had received notice to leave the LDP in May 2012; Hiranuma Takeo, who received a great deal of attention in October 2015 over the reinstatement controversy of 2006; Koizumi Ryūji, who received notice to leave the party in October 2017; Watanuki Tamisuke, who had been expelled in November 2016 and Arai Hiroyuki, who had been expelled in September 2017. These reinstatements did not result in similar attention or uproar as previous occasions.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092372/
