Even though there have been a lot of serious issues to be discussed before it, the government as well as the mass media were not willing to do so. The turnout has resulted in quite low. I believe young people and the unorganized part of the people have lost interests and have not voted in it.
In such a case, the ruling party, LDPJ, does pretty well with the aid of the party of Komeitou, which owns its strong support base of Soukagakkai, a cult religion. LDPJ was supposed to lose in the election due to the recent policy failure especially for the COVID19 pandemic and to a lot of corruption cases for the past 9 years. Their loss in the election was minimized.
Even worse, a regional party ruling Osaka, named Ishin, has increased the seats four times more than before and has become the 3rd "opposition" party. It is the political faction which jeopardized Osaka in the pandemic apparently due to the policy of neoliberalism. This party is essentially a fascist faction as well. It is never an opposition party.
The recent article on Ishin by the Guardian is here; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/01/japan-election-rightwing-populists-sweep-vote-in-osaka
It was only a few weeks prior to the election that the opposition parties could form the united front. It has not fully worked this time. There was something suggestive of the tricks to reduce the voter turnout that the government and the mass media allied to the former had plotted. One example was that the voting hours were shortened by 1 to even 4 hours. In the election campaign period, the mass media have, if not all, neglected programs which could have aroused discussion in the public. Remember the freedom of the press in our country remains being only in the 67th in the world, which is comparable to that of undeveloped countries or of the countries of dictatorship.
I am disappointed at this result. It should be criticized that the government has made corruptions or falsification of public papers or of public data in administration. The ruling party should have been eliminated in the politics. Politics based on hoax and corruption could never be lasted. The present situation reminds me of the USSR in the last years which was losing its sovereignty.
It depends on when the unorganized people realize the situation and go for voting that this country could fix and straighten its way to go. The mass media should play the crucial part. But most of them are threatened economically being deprived the income with advertisement by the internet and would ally the government and the financial circles on the background for economical benefit.
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