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Wednesday, 17th August 2016
In General Japan News,
Japanese opposition frontrunner slams Abenomics
The candidate most likely to become the leader of Japan’s main opposition party has spoken out about prime minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies.
Renho, who goes by her given name, could head up the Democratic Party and become its first ever female leader.
She has said that Abenomics has stalled and that the country’s politicians need to start putting people ahead of corporations.
The Democratic Party is much in need of a facelift, after three years in power handed a landslide victory to Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party in 2012.
That spell of government was characterised by infighting, unkept promises and backtracking on some of its headline policies.
Now, Renho, a former TV presenter, aims to change the party’s reputation and present a clear opposition to Abe and his style of government.
She told Reuters: "It has become clear during the past three years that trickle-down policies aiming to enrich exporting firms by engineering a weak yen and fiscal spending focused on public works have reached their limits.
"One economic policy solution is to spend money on individuals."
As a mother of 19-year-old twins, Renho promotes policies that support working women and aims to ease the financial burden associated with rearing children in Japan, should she be elected.
The vote on the future leadership of the Democratic Party is scheduled for September 15th and so far, Renho is the only candidate to put herself forward.
She is known for her trademark white outfits and is one of a number of women starting to balance out gender roles in Japanese politics, which has traditionally been dominated by men.
Yuriko Koike, former defence minister, is now the first female governor of Tokyo, after Yoichi Masuzoe resigned earlier this year.