TOKYO —
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party announced on Friday a campaign platform for the July 10 upper house election, pledging to push “Abenomics to its upper limit” to revive Japan’s stagnant economy.
The election manifesto, revealed by LDP policy chief Tomomi Inada, stipulates that the government will raise the consumption tax rate by two percentage points to 10 percent in October 2019 while securing stable revenue sources without relying on the issuance of deficit-covering government bonds and enhance social security measures as much as possible.
Opposition parties seeking to wrest power from the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito argue that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement earlier this week that a consumption tax hike will be postponed for the second time signals the failure of Abe’s namesake monetary and fiscal policy mix.
With 37 days remaining until the House of Councillors’ election, Abe and Katsuya Okada, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, sparred over economic policy in separate speeches Friday.
Citing the need to brace Japan to cope with the economic slowdown in China and other emerging economies, Abe said Wednesday the tax hike, already delayed from October 2015 to April 2017, will be postponed for a further 30 months to October 2019.
Abe on Friday defended his decision to delay the tax hike, saying he made the call in order to reduce the burden on Japan’s economy amid uncertainty over the global outlook.
“The Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party are in agreement that I should step down because Abenomics has failed, but there’s no doubt that (the policies) are having positive effects,” Abe said in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture.
“In making a new promise to the people, (we must) seek their mandate. I want to properly explain (the tax hike decision) through the upper house election,” he said.
That new promise consists of nothing more than putting off dealing with the economy, Democratic Party leader Katsuya Okada said in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture.
“Prosperity isn’t reaching each and every citizen. Most of the public do not feel the economy is recovering,” Okada said. “Abenomics has hit a wall.”
The Democratic Party and JCP are among the opposition parties uniting behind single candidates in all 32 contested single-member electoral districts in the election, despite their policy differences.
Abe denounced the united front among the opposition parties Friday afternoon in a public speech in Koriyama, Fukushima.
“For the sake of the election, (the Democratic Party) is willing to join hands with the (JCP), a party that’s trying to destroy the Japan-U.S. alliance. I can’t forgive that,” Abe said.
© KYODO
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