Japan Parties Gear Up for Election in 1st Weekend since Dissolution

Tokyo, Jan. 24 (Jiji Press)--Japanese political parties began gearing up in earnest for the upcoming House of Representatives election on Saturday, the first weekend since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, the day before.

Takayuki Kobayashi, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said at a press conference in the city of Chiba, east of Tokyo, that the ruling bloc will "create a strong economy by decisively carrying out responsible and proactive fiscal policy" advocated by the prime minister.

Noting that the Japan Innovation Party has joined the ruling bloc after the LDP's previous partner Komeito left the coalition, Kobayashi said that the Feb. 8 Lower House poll will be "an election to ask the public whether Takaichi or another person should lead state management under a new framework."

Tetsuo Saito, co-chief of the newly formed Centrist Reform Alliance and former head of Komeito, told a press conference in the city of Hiroshima in western Japan that his party will seek to permanently reduce the consumption tax on food to zero while considering ways to finance the measure.

He mentioned that the centrists' policy pledges feature the establishment of a new state-run fund as a source of funding for the consumption tax cut, saying, "The focus (of election debates) will be on funding."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]