Currently the Democratic Party is losing ground since it lost to
the LDP with the assistance of Komeito, now considered be their central
collaborator in terms of power politics. In retrospect, Kan's Democratic
Party was at its peak when all the opposition parties, including the Liberal
Party and the Communist Party, voted Kan for premiership after the Upper
House election. In the so-called financial session of the Diet that
followed, the Democratic Party took a policy initiative against the timid
Obuchi government. The opposition parties succeeded in passing a bill
without so much as an inkling of a compromise, which had never happened
before in Japanese politics. If the opposition parties had acted as one
then, there was an opportunity to take down Obuchi with the Kajiyama
faction and the new generation Diet members defecting from the LDP.
Instead, the Suga representative lost the confidence of the Liberal Party
when he was quoted saying that "he would not make financial problems his
political agenda," which led the Liberal Party to collaborate with the LDP.
Moreover, Suga's personal scandals weakened party power, which already had a
fragile base due to congeries of different ideologies among their members.
Consequently, the Democratic Party faded into the background,
unable to demonstrate a distinctive political agenda. If they have no
agenda of their own, they are no different from the t Democratic Socialist
Party. To be different, the Democratic Party severely criticized the
Liberal Democratic Party, which has been struggling to survive because it
was unable to present a clear vision for the reform of the current political
system and social structure. In this vacuum, the Democratic Party made a
bold proposal: to take over the government with a revolutionary reform
program as the party of the younger generation. Despite public support for
the ideals which the Democratic Party of Hatoyama and Kan visualized when
founding their party, reality is a long way from ideal. Losing faith with
the Democratic Party, Komeito has turned to the LDP and the Liberal Party.
Simply put, Kan invited these hardships on himself.
Under these circumstances, there are several opinions as to how to
revive the party. One idea is to hand over the party leadership to
Hatoyama. Another option is to have an official election to choose a new
leader, regardless of whether Hatoyama will become the next party leader in
order to revitalize the party as well as to appeal to the public. However,
if only a representative election takes place, it will merely be a repeat of
January's Suga vs. Matsuzawa battle.
In the beginning, the Democratic Party adopted a platform as
a "a networking political party" but in order to function in this matter ,
it is necessary that there be a strong intellectual initiative competition
in existence. As a result, the Democratic Party is now at a point where
they need to review their origins.
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