The Manifesto Election
The election of a new House of Representatives will
be held on
November 9, 2003. It is characterized as being gThe Manifesto
Election.h
This manifesto, the political pledge, is the same as the
political manifesto
given to electors in Tamworth in the United Kingdom in
1834 by Sir Robert
Peel, the twenty-eighth British Prime Minister. In Japan,
it was the first
time that the Democratic Party of Japan presented its
manifesto. The
manifesto of the Democratic Party of Japan echoes the earlier
manifesto
in the United Kingdom as much as the election on November 9 is
nicknamed gThe Manifesto Election.h
Taku
Kajiwara, President of the National Gubernatorial Society and
Governor of
Gifu Prefecture, referred to the effectiveness of manifestoes
in a column of
the Asahi on October 17, 2003, the title of which was
gMake
Manifestoes Evolved!,h Japanese electors had few opportunities
to elect new
members of the Diet through political manifestoes. It is not
too much to say
that Japanese elections have been held in the fetters of
various kinds of
concessions, small social structures in which some electors
are ostracized
in their villages, and narrow-minded human relationships.
The manifestoes
shown in this election are greatly useful, because they
can make electors
pay attention to the policies of each party. However,
a problem of
manifestoes is left; they are difficult for the general public
to find now,
because manifestoes are limited to being delivered only in
campaign offices
or halls where speech meetings or soapbox oratories are
held. Probably, it
is better that they sell manifestoes in Japanese general
bookstores in the
same way as British people do. Another solution is all
kinds of
manifestoes could be given to electors in public offices free of
charge.
Copyright (C) 2003 by Edmond N. Beard