Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07OSAKAKOBE12
2007-01-17 07:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Osaka Kobe
Cable title:  

KOMEITO ROLLS OUT ELECTION THEMES IN OSAKA

Tags:  PGOV JA 
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RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO PRIORITY 0167
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UNCLAS OSAKA KOBE 000012 

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV JA
SUBJECT: KOMEITO ROLLS OUT ELECTION THEMES IN OSAKA


UNCLAS OSAKA KOBE 000012

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV JA
SUBJECT: KOMEITO ROLLS OUT ELECTION THEMES IN OSAKA



1. At the Osaka Chapter Komeito New Year event, Party
President Akihiro Ohta and other Komeito heavyweights
made energetic calls to the party faithful to get out
the vote in this year's upcoming "critical" elections
locally in April and in the Upper House in July. They
also clearly framed junior ruling coalition member
Komeito's view of the Diet session starting on January

25. Turnout at the event was strong with well over two
thousand participants. Komeito brought together the
party's national leadership, numerous Dietmembers, all
of Osaka's local political leaders, the heads of local
associations, and small business groups.


2. Komeito officials all emphasized pocketbook issues
and steered clear of security and international affairs,
except for a call for broader Asian diplomacy. Ohta
spelled out the "Three K" of Komeito's goals for the
Diet session: kempo (Constitutional reform),koyou
(labor law revision to improve employment conditions),
and kyoiku (further changes to education legislation
following revision of the Basic Education Law).
Secretary General Kazuo Kitagawa spoke of "three waves"

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the party would have to overcome in what he called the
"Employment" Diet: the challenge of shifting more
economic opportunity from the big cities to small towns,
the need to spur growth in small businesses as well as
large corporations, and the need to increase
consumption by households, not just firms, which will
lead to average citizens feeling the benefits of
Japan's economic recovery and lead to "true cyclical
growth."


3. Ohta called for Komeito to win 13 Upper House seats
in July, 5 from the district blocs and 8 proportional
seats nationwide, hinting that the LDP shared this goal
within the coalition. He said anything less would be a
loss for the party. Wave upon wave of candidates took
to the stage to ask for the audience's votes. The
event was extremely well choreographed to showcase
Komeito's strengths in Osaka, its deep bench of
attractive candidates seeking office at all levels of
government, and its dedicated, energetic Soka Gakkai
organizational base from which the party is easily able
to blanket local districts on behalf of coalition
candidates.


4. Komeito's clout and electoral importance was
underlined by the active participation of Lower House
senior LDP member and former Foreign Minister Taro
Nakayama. Nakayama lavished praise for Komeito's help
in turning around the Osaka 9th District election from
what he feared would be a DPJ rout into an upset
victory for the new Abe Cabinet. He also thanked
Komeito for its support in the Diet for elevating the
Japan Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense, and
for its assistance revising the Basic Education Law.
He said the coalition partners were hard at work
deliberating the next steps in constitional reform,
particularly preparations for a National Referendum Law.


5. In a clear, public effort to distinguish Komeito
from the LDP, party officials took pains to emphasize
they were looking out for the little guy. Ohta added a
slight dig against the Prime Minister by saying Abe's
slogan of a "Beautiful Japan" is good for nothing more
than scenery unless the government answers the hopes
and dreams of its people, implying that Abe has yet to
do so.

RUSSEL