Many new DPJ lower house members say have difficulty airing views+

TOKYO, Feb. 28 Kyodo -
A total of 28 percent of responding House of Representatives members from the
ruling Democratic Party of Japan who were elected in the August balloting say
they have varying degrees of difficulty in freely expressing their opinions
within the party, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.

The question was posed to 143 lower house freshmen from the DPJ and 57 replied
by late February. Of those responding, 3.5 percent said they feel there is an
atmosphere that makes it difficult to express opinions in the party, while 24.6
percent said they feel the same to some extent.
The poll comes amid separate funds-related scandals embroiling Prime Minister
Yukio Hatoyama and DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa and mounting public
criticism over the way the two have dealt with the allegations.
Regarding the funds scandals that have sent public approval ratings for the
prime minister and his Cabinet lower, 74 percent of the respondents said
Hatoyama has fulfilled his responsibility for clarifying the facts about the
money issue.
Opinions were divided regarding Ozawa as 46 percent of respondents said he has
fulfilled his responsibility, while another 46 percent expressed
dissatisfaction.
Due presumably to the funds scandals, a total of 70 percent of respondents said
they will check the expense and revenue reports of their political fund
management bodies for 2009 before they are submitted to appropriate
authorities.
The survey also revealed that 37 percent of respondents say policy debate
conducted in each government ministry and agency does not reflect the views of
legislators and local communities much.
The highest 44 percent expressed satisfaction with the current DPJ-led
governing coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the People's New
Party, while 40 percent said they want to see the DPJ form a government on its
own.
On the party's proposal for banning political donations from corporations and
other organizations, 60 percent of respondents said they approve of a total
ban, while more than 20 percent either want more leniency or called for leaving
the current system intact.
Regarding other specific policy measures, 67 percent of respondents said the
DPJ could not do anything about its failure to abide by its campaign pledge to
scrap the provisional portion of the gasoline tax, citing a tax revenue
shortfall, while 12 percent said the tax cut should have been implemented as
promised.
==Kyodo
2010-02-28 21:19:54