Statement by Yasuchika Hasegawa, Chairman of Keizai Doyukai
On the Presidential Election of the Democratic Party of Japan

September 21, 2012

Yasuchika Hasegawa
Chairman, Keizai Doyukai

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Mr. Yoshihiko Noda was re-elected at the presidential election of the Democratic Party of Japan today. As the president of the party and as Prime Minister, Mr. Noda has achieved certain progress, such as unified reform of the social security and tax system. In addition, with the dissolution of the diet and a national general election expected to take place in the near future, the Prime Minister’s current term would end within a year. Based on these circumstances, continuation of the party president at this stage seems quite reasonable.

Needless to say, we still face a myriad of pressing issues. Legislation of remarkable importance, such as a bill to reform the public service personnel system, a bill to revise the national pension system, and a carryover from the previous Diet session, a bill to establish a ‘my-number’ system providing all citizens with their own social security number. We can also not understate the importance of the social security system reform, Japan’s participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiation, early recovery from the disaster the Great East Japan Earthquake, foreign relations, nor recovery and growth of the Japanese economy.

I hope party president, as Prime Minister, will form his cabinet immediately and make maximum efforts to bring solutions to as many of these political issues as possible

Japanese version