TOKYO– Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), continues to have the highest support rate in the run-up to the July 10 upper house election, a local news survey showed, yesterday.
Of those polled, 28.3 percent said they will vote for the LDP, a one point increase from the previous poll, conducted between Jun 18 and Jun 19, Kyodo News said, of its nationwide telephone poll conducted from Sunday through yesterday.
The vast majority of those polled, however, expressed their dissatisfaction with the government’s measures, to counter rising living costs, with 79.8 percent of respondents saying, the government “has not taken adequate measures to curb rising living costs.”
This compares to just 15.3 percent saying that, the measures taken have been “adequate,” according to the news agency’s poll.
The survey also showed that, more people than previously polled said, the nation’s defence budget should be kept at the current level.
Compared to the previous poll, 36.3 percent of respondents said, the defence budget shouldn’t be altered, this was a rise of 4.8 points.
The number of respondents saying the defence budget should be raised to two percent of the country’s gross domestic product, dropped 3.1 points to 34.1 percent, the survey also showed.
Official campaigning, ahead of the upper house elections began on Jun 22, and Kishida, who took office last Oct, along with his ruling LDP and Komeito coalition ally, will be looking to extend their grip on power in the upper house, so as to more swiftly pass key legislation and consolidate the government.
But opposition parties also vying for seats are appealing to a public, now dealing with rising living costs, not to follow the government’s course of action, and instead back lowering the consumption tax rate and change the Bank of Japan’s steadfast ultra-easy policy stance, to combat rising living costs.
Members of Japan’s 248-seat upper house serve six years, and in the election held every three years, July’s will see 50 seats chosen by proportional representation, with the remaining seats based on results from electoral districts.
Along with countering soaring prices and measures to boost economic growth, other points of focus for the triennial campaign include, regional diplomatic issues, as well as, broader geopolitical affairs.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK