Sanseitō

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Do it Yourself!!
参政党
Sanseitō
AbbreviationDIY
Secretary GeneralSohei Kamiya
Founded17 March 2020; 4 years ago (2020-03-17)
HeadquartersAzabudai Hills, Minato, Tokyo 106-0041, Japan[1]
NewspaperSanseitō DIY Times [2]
Membership (2022)Increase 100,000[3]
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[6][7]
Slogan"投票したい政党がないから、自分たちでゼロからつくる"[8]
"Tōhyō shitai seitō ga naikara, jibuntachide zero kara tsukuru"
("Since there is no political party to vote for, we will create our own from scratch")
Councillors
1 / 248
Representatives
0 / 465
Prefectural assembly members
5 / 2,643
[9]
Municipal assembly members
126 / 29,608
[9]
Website

Sanseitō (Japanese: 参政党, lit. 'Political Participation Party'; officially the Party of Do it Yourself !! in English)[10] is a right-wing populist[11][12][13] political party in Japan. The party was founded in 2020 and won a seat in the 2022 House of Councillors election, also becoming an official political party by winning more than 2% of the vote in the election.

The party promotes COVID-19 misinformation and anti-vaccine propaganda, including the party's president, Manabu Matsuda, who has called COVID vaccines a "murder weapon".[14] Sanseitō gained international media attention during the 2022 House of Councillors election due to the party's Secretary General, Sohei Kamiya's antisemitic rhetoric during public appearances and campaign rallies.[15] Observers noted that Sanseitō differ from usual far right political parties in Japan, as most of its supporters are affluent, previously political apathetic, who get attracted by the party through topics like organic food culture and spirituality.[16][17]

History[edit]

The party was founded in March 2020, and became active in April of that year.[18]

The party fielded five candidates for the national proportional representation block and 45 candidates in all constituencies for the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election. Sohei Kamiya, a Sanseitō candidate in the national proportional representation block, won a seat. The party received more than 2% of the vote in the constituencies and proportional representation block, meeting the legal requirements for it to become a political party.[18]

Ideology and policies[edit]

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The party is known for its traditional conservative flavor and has been called traditional conservative.[3][19] It has also been referred to as extremist.[20]

The party wants the Japanese public to be able to opt out of wearing masks and taking vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic and has "characterized the pandemic as being staged".[3]

Key policies of the party are "education reform" to develop the ability to think and to value tradition, "food safety" to promote pesticide-free, and natural food products, "national protection" to regulate foreign investment.[21][22] And, specifically in the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election the party also proposed the "liberalisation of mask wearing" as their policy on coronavirus.[12] Analysis found that as of 2022 their voter overlap with young people and child-rearing generation suffering from pandemic fatigue, especially in regions with lower vaccination rate.[16][17] For these reasons, the party has been criticized and labeled as a far-right political party with adherence to conspiracy theories.[23][24][25][26][27][17][28]

The party is in favour of rewriting the Constitution[29] and a defense budget increase of up to 3 percent of the GDP.[30]

The party is against same-sex marriage, including civil unions.[citation needed] Sanseitō was one of the only parties[who?] in the National Diet to oppose the LGBT Understanding Bill.[31]

Supporters[edit]

According to Mina Okamura, a clinical psychologist and business psychology consultant, people who have been indifferent to politics and elections were interested in the keywords "anti-vaccine," "no mask," and "organic". Those policies were easy to catch on to by those whom did not study politics. The Sanseitō voters on the whole do not think one's vote can change politics, but encourage political parties, which already exist, to try to do what they think is good. The speech of the party is emotionally rather than logically appealing. Therefore, they appeal to the sensibilities of the politically inexperienced and have increased their support.[32]

According to Japanese political analyst Hiroo Hagino, the party is supported by the younger population, who have become disappointed with politics centred on the elderly. According to a JNN survey, a higher proportion of young people voted for Sanseitō in the last election than other demographics. Some Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) officials expressed worry that they might lose votes because both parties have conservative policies. Most of the Sanseitō voters do not support the Kishida government.[33]

Election results[edit]

House of Councillors[edit]

Election Leader Constituency Party list Seats Position Status
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Election +/- Total +/-
2022 Sohei Kamiya 2,018,215 3.80
0 / 75
 1,768,385 3.33
1 / 50
1 / 125
 new
1 / 248
 new 8th Opposition

References[edit]

  1. ^ "コンタクト・献金" [Contact/Contribute].
  2. ^ "機関紙" [Bulletin].
  3. ^ a b c d e Kado, Eishi; Sasayama, Taishi (13 July 2022). "Controlled-immigrant party opposing unnecessary COVID measures wins Diet seat". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b "演説とSNSで支持伸ばした「参政党」とは。どんな党？ なぜ勢力拡大？主張には危うさも… 参院選で議席獲得". BuzzFeed. 2022-07-10. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
  5. ^ "The 'Trumpian' Sanseito party takes youth votes away from the Liberal Democrats".
  6. ^ "Populist Japanese Politician Who Railed Against 'Jewish Capital' Wins Parliamentary Seat". The Algemeiner Journal. 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  7. ^ Ryall, Julian (25 July 2022). "What's behind the rise of Japan's Sanseito, a far-right party that loves Trump and hates immigration?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  8. ^ "「ブルーオーシャン」飛び込んだ参政党 ＳＮＳ世代巻き込む". 10 July 2022.
  9. ^ a b "メンバー紹介". Sanseitō Official Website. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  10. ^ "参政党". www.sanseito.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  11. ^ 未希, 木下 (2022-07-10). "【参院選】「ブルーオーシャン」飛び込んだ参政党 SNS世代巻き込む". 産経ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  12. ^ a b "参議院選挙:参政党、１議席獲得で政党要件満たす…選挙区と比例ともに得票率２％以上に". 読売新聞オンライン (in Japanese). 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  13. ^ "Gossip YouTuber, comedian and an athlete win seats in Upper House | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  14. ^ "Populist Sanseito party rising through rhetoric seen on YouTube | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  15. ^ Beck, Atara (2022-07-12). "Japanese politician who railed against 'Jewish capital' wins parliamentary seat | World Israel News". WIN. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  16. ^ a b "参政党とは何か？「オーガニック信仰」が生んだ異形の右派政党". Newsweek日本版. July 14, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c 世論調査部 岡部雄二郎. "参政党はなぜ議席を獲得できたのか…出口調査・選挙結果から見えてきた三つの要因". 読売新聞オンライン. 読売新聞東京本社. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  18. ^ a b 日本放送協会. "新興勢力「参政党」 国政政党目指す戦い 初の議席獲得". NHK政治マガジン (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  19. ^ "The 'Trumpian' Sanseito party takes youth votes away from the Liberal Democrats". AsiaNews. 25 July 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  20. ^ Ryall, Julian (25 July 2022). "What's behind the rise of Japan's Sanseito, a far-right party that loves Trump and hates immigration?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  21. ^ "新興勢力「参政党」国政政党目指す戦い 初の議席獲得". NHK. 2022-07-10. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  22. ^ "参政党".
  23. ^ 「週刊文春」編集部. "反ワクチン政党に震える取材記者、マークする公安". 週刊文春 / 週刊文春 2022-06-30日号. 文藝春秋date=2022/06/22. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  24. ^ "広がる極右・陰謀論 「参政党」が１議席、参院比例". 中日新聞. 2022-07-13. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  25. ^ "「大型サイド」参政党、参院選で１議席 「外国勢力が日本支配」 極右ムードや陰謀論の懸念". 沖縄タイムス. 2022-07-13. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  26. ^ 小島弘之 (2022-07-13). "参政党の神谷氏、地元で会見 統一地方選に「1千人擁立を目指す」". 朝日新聞デジタル. 朝日新聞社. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  27. ^ 田中裕之 (2022-07-14). ""参政党現象"とは？ ノーマスクで人だかり 参院選で議席獲得". 毎日新聞 (in Japanese). 毎日新聞社. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  28. ^ "参政党・神谷宗幣氏を生直撃 "ユダヤ陰謀論"修正のワケは…【深層NEWS】". 日テレNEWS. 日本テレビ放送網. 2022-08-20. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
  29. ^ "初の議席獲得「参政党」が会見…代表に松田学氏 神谷氏は副代表に（FNNプライムオンライン）". Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  30. ^ "参院選当選者 参政比例名簿・候補者 選挙・開票結果". 読売新聞オンライン (in Japanese). 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  31. ^ "参政党 ＬＧＢＴ法案に反対 松田学代表「十分な議論がない中で創っていいのか」(Yahoo!ニュース)". Archived from the original on 2023-06-17. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  32. ^ "参院選で躍進した「参政党」 心理士が注目した「感覚に働きかける」手法". NEWSポストセブン (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  33. ^ "議席獲得が確実な「参政党」 どんな人が投票したの？ ～出口調査から最速分析！～". TBS NEWS DIG (in Japanese). 10 July 2022. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
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