Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 15:00 - 16:00

"Election Analysis"

Yoichi Funabashi, Chairman of Asia Pacific Initiative

Language: The speech and Q & A will be in English.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition refrained a two-third majority in Sunday's general election in his fifth winning streak since he came back to power in 2015.

Despite being mired in the cronyism-related scandals surround Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party alone secured 283 seats, possibly keeping "Abe Ikkyo", or one strong power. Combined with other like-minded conservative parties, Abe's party could step towards his long-standing goal of revising Japan's Constitution.

Still, Abe's victory in the election, in which the turn-out is likely to be second lowest after the war, doesn't mean that he has a wide support from the Japanese voters in general. Rather, his win was largely due to the lack of alternatives and the disarray caused by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's Kibo no To, or the Party Of Hope.

According to a poll conducted by the liberal Asahi Shimbun last week, 51 percent of 1,574 respondents said they do not want Abe to continue as prime minister, while 34 percent said they did.

The confusion in the opposition camp in the election created a winner, Rikken Minshu To, or the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), launched by former Democratic Party lawmaker Yuki Edano. Former Democratic Party lawmakers fled to Edano's party, after Hope said it won't welcome people who don't agree with Koike's stance on the security legislation. The CDP became the largest opposition force – dashing Koike's hope. And more restructuring in the opposition camp is expected to follow.

Yoichi Funabashi, Chairman of Asia Pacific Initiative, and former editor in chief of Asahi Shimbun will give a post-election analysis and discuss what will happen, including the push for constitutional revision and the possibility of Abe's third re-election as the party president next year.

Please reserve in advance, still & TV cameras inclusive. Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation.

Professional Activities Committee

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