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Vol.72
Necessary Expenses |
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Nov. 1,2023 |
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This is a story that happened when I visited a polling station for an Upper House by-election.
I was surprised to see only one candidate poster, which shows the front-runner, on the bulletin board in front of the polling station.
The only rival, who was called a perennial candidate, did not put his poster. The results showed that he, of course, did not get many votes and even the voter turnout hit a record low with little interest among residents. If he had not run for the election, the favorite would have been elected unopposed, which would have saved election expenses (about billions of yens).
Given the current country and regional fiscal situation, these expenses seem wasteful. However, it is also true that democracy requires such wasteful spending. Consequently, these must be necessary expenses.
I found a solution to this problem. We should not have a by-election immediately but wait until the next national or local election. I think the number of Diet members is too large. Cutting one or two will not make a difference at all.
Some scholars and analysts
are against this idea because
such a reduction affects
political decisions when there
is only a slight difference in
the number of members between
the ruling and opposition
parties. However, if a proposal
is passed by one or two votes, I
think it mostly reflects the
will of the people whatever the
results are. If the results turn
out to be bad, just call the
proposal for a vote again on the
next election or session.
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