Is the Power of the DPFP for Real?

It was not so long ago that the Democratic Party for the People in Japan was understood to be on the precipice of political extinction. Amid the anti-establishment sentiment that followed the Liberal Democratic Party’s “slush-fund” scandal and the creeping increase of the price of living, the DPFP finally made a breakthrough. Explaining their reasons for torpedoing the meeting, DPFP Tax Policy Chief Furukawa Motohisa – who is also acting leader of the party – protested the ruling coalition’s hesitation to raise the income tax bracket out of concern that it would result in a 7 to 8 trillion yen decrease in tax revenue. At the DPFP’s party convention held on February 11, the assembled members decided that they will continue pushing to “increase take home pay” – leaving the priority unchanged from last year – and will promote as many candidates as possible. The victorious Hirosawa was the chosen successor of popular incumbent Mayor Kawamura Takashi, who launched a local party called “Tax Cuts Japan.” The DPFP voters’ defiance of the party was evident in the exit polls: 44.8 percent of Constitutional Democratic Party voters, 42.8 percent of LDP voters, and 60.3 percent of Komeito voters cast their ballots for Otsuka, while only 37.3 percent of DPFP voters did the same.