Ex-Japan Opposition Lawmakers to Form Pro-Constitution Group

Tokyo, Aug. 20 (Jiji Press)–Three former Japanese lawmakers on the opposition side are planning to form a new political organization soon to bring together liberal forces and protect Japan’s pacifist Constitution. Of them, Hiroshi Kawauchi and Tomoko Abe will become co-leaders of the new group, “Goken Liberal Kyosei,” or Gorilla. Former Justice Minister Hideo Hiraoka will serve as its secretary-general. Announcing the move on Wednesday, the three, who lost their House of Representatives seats in the February general election for the lower chamber of Japan’s parliament, in which they ran from the major opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, called for keeping the Constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9 intact, among other things. Following the election, Abe and Hiraoka quit the CRA. An official of the CRA, which is in talks with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, both opposition parties, on their possible integration, showed a view that the move by the trio is expected to negatively affect the three-way integration talks. The CRA was launched in January, in the run-up to the general election, by then Lower House members of the CDP and Komeito. Kawauchi, Abe and Hiraoka all hail from the CDP. According to the trio, 13 others, including CDP lawmakers in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, have expressed their intentions to join Gorilla. While the CRA, the CDP and Komeito plan to reach a conclusion in the integration talks by the end of this month, caution remains strong among CDP members, including officials at the party’s local organizations. Gorilla will apparently be intended to attract liberal members of the CRA and the CDP. Its basic policies will likely include a revision of the Imperial House Law to pave the way for the country to have a female or maternal-line emperor. For the Sept. 13 gubernatorial election in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, the new group is expected to keep in step with the CDP in supporting incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki. At a press conference Wednesday, Kawauchi said, “It is important to firmly uphold the banner to confront the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi,” adding, “Whatever the political situation, our group will act to bring together everyone under the banner.” Meanwhile, CRA leader Junya Ogawa and CDP chief Shunichi Mizuoka met Wednesday to exchange views on opinions collected from the CDP’s local organizations about the three-way integration. Fifty-two CRA members who lost in the February election also held talks the same day. Many of them sounded negative about proceeding with the integration talks under the current plan, a participant said. But Masato Imai, a former Lower House lawmaker, told reporters, “Our consensus is that an integration of the CRA and Komeito with the exclusion of the CDP is unacceptable.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]