Political party with ‘Japanese First’ platform made big gains in Japan’s elections – Washington Examiner
The Sanseito party, a relatively new political group in japan founded in March 2020, achieved significant gains in the recent parliamentary upper house elections by winning 14 seats, bringing their total to 18 seats overall. Inspired by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda, Sanseito promotes a “Japanese First” platform focused on protecting Japanese citizens’ livelihoods and resisting globalism, while advocating for reforms in Japan’s immigration system. The party’s leader, Sohei Kamiya, emphasized that their stance is not anti-foreigner but aims to improve immigration policies. With the new seats, Sanseito can now draft nonspending bills and aims to win enough seats in the future to form coalition governments. Their growing influence marks a notable addition to Japan’s political landscape.
Political party with ‘Japanese First’ platform made big gains in Japan’s elections
A Japanese political party seemingly inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda made significant gains in the country’s parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Japan’s relatively new Sanseito party won 14 seats in Sunday’s upper house election. It was a sizable addition for the party, which was founded in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reuters. Previously, the Sanseito party only won a single seat in Japan’s 2022 election. If the new political party wanted to officially announce its arrival on Japan’s political scene, Sanseito made it on Sunday.
It marks the 18th seat won overall for the party, which also has three seats in Japan’s powerful lower house. It also won over 2% of the vote in the 2022 election, which qualified Sanseito to become an official political party in Japan. It won the third-highest amount of opposition votes in the election, coming behind only the well-established Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People parties, according to the Japan Times.
“The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people’s livelihoods by resisting globalism,” said Sohei Kamiya, the leader of the Sanseito party, to Japanese network Nippon Television.
However, he did emphasize that he was not opposed to foreigners, just advocating for improvements to Japan’s immigration system. He also specified the essence of “Japanese First” was predicated on standing up “against globalism and protecting the lives of Japanese citizens.”
“I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,” Kamiya noted.
“The notion that people who want to discriminate and kick foreigners out are flocking to Sanseito is, I think, a little wrong. We aren’t that kind of party,” he added.
Sunday’s victory granted the party enough seats in the upper house to have the authority to draft nonspending bills, surpassing Japan’s 10-seat requirement threshold, the Japan Times reported. Next is winning 20 seats, allowing the Sanseito party to submit budget bills.
TRUMP DOJ ASKS JUDGES TO UNSEAL EPSTEIN AND MAXWELL GRAND JURY RECORDS
However, Kamiya has bigger visions for the party.
“If Sanseito wins 50 or 60 seats in the next Lower House election, I think it may be possible to form a coalition government with small parties, like European (governments), in the future. (Sanseito) will aim to be a part of that,” said Kamiya.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
