Chisato Morishita’s Quick Confirmation Sparks Growing Debate Over the Relevance of Proportional Representation

The 50th election for the House of Representatives, in which the main issues were “politics and money” and “backstabbing Diet members,” has opened with a resounding defeat for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Kōmeitō. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Kōmeitō suffered a crushing defeat, leaving the Liberal Democratic Party and New Kōmeitō with a combined total of 215 seats, less than a majority.

The very rare outcome of the election of Keiichi Ishii, the current leader of the New Komeito Party, also surprised the public. This is the first time in 15 years since Akihiro Ota lost the House of Representatives election in 2009 that a Komeito representative has failed to win an election.

Cabinet ministers Hideki Makihara, Minister of Justice, and Yasuhiro Kozato, Minister of Agriculture, also lost their elections, as did big names such as former Secretary General Akira Amari and former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Ryota Takeda. The public has turned against the ruling party lawmakers one after another, and the fact that the Communist Party-affiliated “Shimbun Akaibata” reported just before the election day that a political party branch headed by a “slush fund member” who was supposed to be unapproved had also paid 20 million yen to a political party branch. It is highly possible that this was a fatal blow.

Former gradol Chisato Morishita was the sole runner-up

While the results were harsh, there were some candidates who were said to have received “lenient” results.

Former grad girl Chisato Morishita ran in the Tohoku block of the proportional representation electoral district, where she was the “sole runner-up” and won the election. While LDP members were struggling, she was reportedly “immediately declared elected” after the polls opened at 20:00. Morishita ran in the 2009 lower house election from the former 5th district of Miyagi Prefecture, but was defeated by Jun Azumi of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), and was also unable to make a comeback in the proportional election due to a close margin of defeat.

On the Internet, in a conversation with businessman Hiroyuki Ko and Hiroyuki Nishimura

I want to increase food self-sufficiency.”

When Hiroyuki asked Morishita to define food self-sufficiency, Morishita fell silent and his ill-informed opinion was immediately revealed.

Kosei Ozora, 25, the youngest candidate for the House of Representatives this time, is a newcomer to the LDP and has been called a “debater of the generation Z.” Although he failed to make a dent in the primary election, he made a comeback in the proportional election.

Yamazaki Daishiro, who was sacked as minister in charge of economic revitalization two years ago because he was reported to be a “pot-bellied” member of the former Unification Church, was also defeated in the primary election but won in the proportional election.

These “zombie lawmakers” who were defeated in the proportional elections or in the primary elections, but won again, were often commented on SNS and other social networking sites.

Proportional elections are decided by ranks that are contrary to the will of the people. What’s the point?

Morishita won the single proportional election. A second Eriko Imai?

The system of proportional resurrection needs to be reexamined.

The proportional revival system needs to be rethought.

Election Committee Chairman Shinjiro Submits Letter of Resignation

The person in charge of the election is Koizumi Shinjiro. Mr. Koizumi is in charge of the election, and Ms. Morishita is the candidate of Mr. Shinjiro, who has been making efforts to field female candidates. It is only strange that a rookie candidate with no track record is given such preferential treatment. He probably thinks that the inclusion of former female celebrities such as Junko Mihara, Eriko Imai, and Akiko Ikuta will boost the LDP’s popularity.

This time, the total number of women elected by all parties reached 70, far exceeding the previous record of 54 set in 2009. The LDP may have tried to capitalize on this trend, but it suffered a historic defeat. Shinjiro felt responsible and resigned as chairman of the election campaign committee.

Even though he suffered a heavy defeat, he was a candidate who was promised huge compensation and privileges as a member of the Diet for winning a proportional election. Can we really call it the will of the people when a candidate is favored by the party and “immediately elected”?