ID :
104504
Thu, 02/04/2010 - 08:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/104504
The shortlink copeid
Local suffrage for foreigners could spur nationalist sentiments: Kamei
TOKYO, Feb. 3 Kyodo -
Financial services minister Shizuka Kamei on Wednesday reiterated his
opposition to granting permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local
elections, saying that doing so could incite nationalism during elections.
Kamei, who heads the People's New Party, one of the junior partners in Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama's coalition government, has been a vocal opponent of
the drive, making it difficult for the government to submit a local suffrage
bill to the current Diet session.
''Elections could heat up,'' Kamei told a plenary session of the House of
Councillors. ''Granting the right to vote would run the risk of creating
antagonism because it could spur nationalist sentiments.''
People of Korean descent comprise about half of all permanent foreign residents
in the country, mostly because many Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan as
laborers when the Korean Peninsula was under its colonial rule from 1910 to
1945.
With 2010 marking a century since Japan's annexation of the peninsula, Hatoyama
has said that he can gain support on the issue within the government.
But Kamei reiterated his view that those hoping to vote in Japanese elections
should be naturalized. He has said that both he and his party are against
extending suffrage and the bill was not included in the agreement reached by
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the PNP
when they formed the ruling coalition.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano has said a consensus must be reached on
the matter within the Cabinet before the government can proceed with
legislation to realize local suffrage for foreign residents.
Hatoyama and other leaders of the DPJ, including Secretary General Ichiro
Ozawa, support extending suffrage but reservations remain even within their
party.
There are strong calls among permanent foreign residents in the country for the
right to vote in local elections on the grounds that they pay taxes as local
residents.
==Kyodo
Financial services minister Shizuka Kamei on Wednesday reiterated his
opposition to granting permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local
elections, saying that doing so could incite nationalism during elections.
Kamei, who heads the People's New Party, one of the junior partners in Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama's coalition government, has been a vocal opponent of
the drive, making it difficult for the government to submit a local suffrage
bill to the current Diet session.
''Elections could heat up,'' Kamei told a plenary session of the House of
Councillors. ''Granting the right to vote would run the risk of creating
antagonism because it could spur nationalist sentiments.''
People of Korean descent comprise about half of all permanent foreign residents
in the country, mostly because many Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan as
laborers when the Korean Peninsula was under its colonial rule from 1910 to
1945.
With 2010 marking a century since Japan's annexation of the peninsula, Hatoyama
has said that he can gain support on the issue within the government.
But Kamei reiterated his view that those hoping to vote in Japanese elections
should be naturalized. He has said that both he and his party are against
extending suffrage and the bill was not included in the agreement reached by
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the PNP
when they formed the ruling coalition.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano has said a consensus must be reached on
the matter within the Cabinet before the government can proceed with
legislation to realize local suffrage for foreign residents.
Hatoyama and other leaders of the DPJ, including Secretary General Ichiro
Ozawa, support extending suffrage but reservations remain even within their
party.
There are strong calls among permanent foreign residents in the country for the
right to vote in local elections on the grounds that they pay taxes as local
residents.
==Kyodo
