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Politics
The Party Is Over
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Fukushima and Tsujimoto
Tokyo -- Kiyomi Tsujimoto, the star lawmaker of the SDP, is leaving the small opposition party, likely heralding its final decline.
Tsujimoto served as senior vice minister of land, infrastructure, transport, and tourism while the DPJ-SDP-PNP coalition endured and, together with SDP leader Mizuho Fukushima, is one of the two most recognizable members of the party.
At a press conference in Osaka, Tsujimoto stated that she will work as an independent parliamentarian.
Analysts believe it possible that Tsujimoto will eventually find her way to the ranks of the ruling DPJ.
Tsujimoto's aides say that she has been discussing the possibility of leaving the party since early June when the SDP exited the ruling coalition. She was among those SDP lawmakers who counseled against leaving the government.
The final straw for Tsujimoto was apparently the poor performance of the SDP in the House of Councillors election and her disillusionment with the party leaders when no one took responsibility for the loss.
She may have been expecting that Mizuho Fukushima would step down as leader after the party won only two seats - including Fukushima's own seat.
More fundamentally, the departure of Kiyomi Tsujimoto signals that the SDP is losing its viability as a credible political party. If an ambitious and talented lawmaker such as Tsujimoto can no longer see a political future in the SDP, then the party is really at the end of the road.
The SDP now holds only 6 seats in the House of Representatives and 4 seats in the House of Councillors. Among these, only party leader Mizuho Fukushima is a nationally-known figure.
PanOrient News
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