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Right-wing populist party wins election in Japan-the YouTube effect
A new populist force: Sanseito, a right-wing party founded on YouTube during the Corona pandemic, achieves surprising election sequence in Japan. Find out more about your ascent and challenges for Premier Ishiba.
Right-wing populist party wins election in Japan-the YouTube effect
The leader of the Sanseito populist party in Japan is a former supermarket manager who launched his political movement during the deep phase of the Coronavirus pandemic on YouTube. With the message "Japan first" he made the election campaign and now managed to surprisingly win this weekend in the parliamentary elections.
breakthrough in the elections
SANSEITO, inspired by other populist right groups that have arisen in recent years, has achieved 14 seats in the Japanese upper house in accordance with public broadcasting. This is a dramatic increase compared to the once occupied only seat. Even though this does not appear much in the 248 seats, it shows that the party's message is inherent in parts of the Japanese population.
This surprising success increases the pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Elections lost their majority in both chambers on Sunday. Ishiba is faced with demands for resignation that he has resisted so far.
founded online
The rise of Sanseito is particularly remarkable because the party was created in an unusual way. The party leader Sohei Kamiya founded the group in 2020 by gathering people on the Internet. Over time, the party began to win seats in local meetings. The party's YouTube channel had more than 460,000 subscribers by Monday. During Covid Pandemic, Sanseito gained awareness by spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a conspiracy of global elites.
In the run-up to the elections to the upper house, the party became known primarily through its “Japan first” campaign, which dealt with complaints about excessive tourism and the influx of foreign residents. This topic is becoming increasingly sensitive because Japan, the fourth largest economy in the world, has traditionally pursued a strict immigration policy, but has tried to attract more international tourists and foreign workers in recent years to counteract a quickly aging population and falling birth rates.
frustrations use
The population of foreign residents in Japan has increased from 2.23 million to 3.77 million in the past ten years, but this is only 3 % of the total population of over 120 million people. The number of tourists is also constantly breaking new records, which leads to problems in some cities that are burdened by excessive masses of visitors. Some now believe that there are too many foreigners in Japan, which is to be founded to found a new
SANSEITO used these frustrations on his “Japan first” platform to also take up other concerns such as stagnating wages, high inflation and living costs. Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, said in his speech in July: "The everyday life of the Japanese is becoming increasingly difficult." He referred to a lack of economic growth and an increasing gap between poor and rich. The party is in favor of foreign residents in cities, demands stricter immigration regulations and fewer social benefits for foreigners as well as difficult conditions for naturalization. In addition, Sanseito is committed to increased security measures, laws against espionage, greater tax reliefs, renewable energies and a health system that turns away from vaccinations. The party also calls for strengthening defense skills, since Japan is surrounded by nuclear -armed countries, and sees it as necessary to build up a “deterrent” while a long -term denuclear is being sought. Kamiya also compared Sanseito to other right movements such as Donald Trump's Maga movement in the United States and the AfD in Germany and reform UK. Joshua Walker, head of the US-based organization Japan Society, noted: "Everyone is talking about Sanseito-especially here in America-because of the entire populist and xenophobic mood." Walker added that such successes were more likely to be due to the weakness of the LDP and Ishibas than to the strength of Sanseito. The Kamiya plan to weaken some of the party's more controversial ideas and attract more female voters. According to the election results, however, Kamiya spoke of a triumph and said: "The public understood that the media were wrong and was right." The result situation has placed Ishiba's coalition on very shaky legs. He had already lost control of the stronger lower house in October and the LDP has lost its majority for the first time in 15 years - a violent blow to the long -ruling party. In a press conference on Monday, Ishiba described the results of the upper house as a hard assessment of the LDP and apologized to his party. He explained that the party would continue to rule with its coalition partner and cooperate with other parties on important topics. Already on the Sunday after the polling stations were closed, Ishiba told NHK that he intended to continue to stay prime minister and party leader, and referred to the customs talks with the USA. Japan is one of the countries that have to count on an inch of 25 % if they cannot achieve an agreement from August 1st. In the press conference on Monday, Ishiba said that he wanted to speak to Trump as soon as possible to find a solution. Political agenda by Sanseito
Comparisons to the Maga movement
The future of Ishiba