Istanbul Gelisim University - Election evaluation from a Japanese political scientist: Support for the government has declined

Election evaluation from a Japanese political scientist: Support for the government has declined

Japanese Political Scientist Dr. Keisuke Wakizaka evaluated the latest situation in the country and the change of management as the elections approached in Japan and said, “Support for the government has dropped to 20-30 percent.”

Regarding the Yoshihide Suga's resignation from the Leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party in September, former Japanese Foreign Minister Humio Kishida was elected as the new party leader and took office as the new prime minister as a result of the intra-party election, Japanese Political Scientist Dr. Keisuke Wakizaka said, "Support for the government has dropped to 20-30 percent.”

“INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF COVID-19 CASES COUNTED AS 'FAILURE'”

Making statements about why the Liberal Democratic Party, which is the ruling party, changed their chairman as the elections approached in Japan, Japanese Political Scientist Asst. Prof. Keisuke Wakizaka said, “This reason is due to the situation of the previous Yoshihide Suga administration. Yoshihide Suga, who became prime minister in 2020, had to deal with the economic depression and the Covid-19 pandemic crisis within Japan. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures of the Japanese government against it, the Japanese economy has suffered serious damage. Against this situation, the Suga administration could not produce any effective policy. The reputation of this administration, especially among the youth, has decreased significantly and they have not heeded the warnings made by the Japanese government. In addition, the number of Covid-19 cases increased rapidly after the Tokyo Olympics. This was reflected to the Japanese public as the "failure" of the Suga administration. Thus, the inability to effectively manage the crisis that has continued until today has negatively affected Suga's administration.”

“SUPPORT TO THE GOVERNMENT DECREASED BY 20-30 PERCENT”

Stating that the support of the Japanese public to the Suga administration has decreased to 20-30 percent, Dr. Wakizaka said, “There would be a possibility that the Liberal Democratic Party alone would not be able to win more than half of the seats in the House of Representatives if it ran under this situation. The slight increase in support for opposition parties is actually due to the weakening of Suga's administration. That's why the Liberal Democrat Party preferred to change the management staff and enter the election instead of not losing the election and continuing the administration of Suga, which has a negative image."

“THERE IS NO HOPE”

Noting that the Kishida administration had people involved in scandals such as bribery in important positions, Dr. Wakizaka said, “Japanese public opinion does not have much hope for the new administration.”