Shinjiro Fever Fizzles: The Mysterious Case of Tachimin Representatives and Harumi Yoshida’s Advisor

The representative elections of the Constitutional Democratic Party are disappointing

The Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election has become a hot topic, with nine candidates suddenly in the running as factions disband over the slush funds issue. Behind the scenes, around the same time, elections are taking place for the representative of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, which aims to seize power from the main opposition party.

The Constitutional Democratic Party tends to get less attention than the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential election, which is positioned as the battle to determine the prime minister who will become Japan’s de facto leader. However, it was a representative election, so I was glad there was some debate going on in terms of policy.

Photo provided by Kyodo News

Former Prime Minister Noda, House of Representatives member Harumi Yoshida, Representative Izumi and former Representative Edano hold hands during the witness speech for the election of the Constitutional Democratic Party representatives (from left) = afternoon of September 14, 2024, Umeda, Osaka

This time, former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who has become almost unanimous in his role, has gained solid support from constitutional supporters and Diet members, and at first it seemed like it was a one-on-one battle with the former Cabinet Secretary. The candidate is Secretary Yoshihiko Noda. I think when it comes to two people I have seen competing against each other, it doesn’t seem that interesting compared to the LDP presidential election, which is rich in variety with a woman, a young man in his forties, and a veteran political expert.

Most people have a harsh assessment of the Izumi representative, but…

In particular, Kenta Izumi, who has worked very hard as a representative of the Constitutional Democratic Party for the past three years, has a low reputation within the party, and even supporters of the Constitutional Democratic Party say that Kenta Izumi has not been able to develop the Constitutional Democratic Party. Most of the reviews are harsh.

However, from the author’s point of view, I think Kenta Izumi played a pathetic role. It can be said that the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was a “fragile ship” that had many independent members and could have fallen apart if something had happened after the issue of Yuriko Koike’s Party of Hope. The people who were able to lead such a delicate organization to the end without it collapsing or splitting up until the end of their term are undoubtedly the members of the executive team, including Kenta Izumi, who worked diligently to respond politely and not make enemies. There is no doubt that it is due to skill.

Representative Kenta Izumi. Most constitutional supporters have a rather harsh opinion… (Photo = Noukei314/CC-BY-SA-4.0/Wikimedia Commons）

In short, all those who deal with constitutional law say that it was “neither good nor bad”. It is true that there was no violent management that would have caused the collapse of the party or the organization. On the other hand, there is no doubt that there was a sense of disappointment within the Constitutional Democratic Party, which failed to corner the LDP and increase its strength despite having had many opportunities to make a leap forward.

Along with Kenta Izumi, who managed to run despite the fact that 20 people recommended by Diet members are required to run for representative elections, which is a very high hurdle for the current constitutional forces, the Noda camp virtually nominated candidates Yoshida, who was once elected in Tokyo’s 8th district, appeared in a borrowed form. In general, it seems that this is not quite the case, and Yoshida’s support rate has dropped to around 6%-8% in various polls, but compared to the charming presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party, there are no female candidates, due to In addition to the “constitutional gesture” of making gender issues the main issue, it was necessary to put women on the witness stand at all costs.