TOKYO: Support has sunk further for Japan’s embattled ruling coalition, a new poll showed Wednesday, after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s party suffered its worst election result in 15 years.
Backing for the government nosedived to 34 percent, while its disapproval rating came to 51 percent, according to the survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily.
In Ishiba’s short honeymoon period after taking office on October 1, the same survey found 51 percent supported his cabinet against 32 percent who didn’t.
A separate poll by Kyodo News released Tuesday had 53 percent saying they did not want the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito to stay in power.
Sunday’s snap election left the coalition short of a majority for the first time since 2009 — when it was booted out of power for three years — 18 seats short of the 233 needed.
Ishiba has already indicated he will seek to govern a minority administration and seek approval from other parties to get legislation through parliament.
That expectation was reinforced late Tuesday when the head of potential kingmaker the Democratic Party for the People (DPP), which has 28 seats, ruled out joining the LDP in a coalition government.
“We will give all of our strength to achieve our policies and we will not join the coalition,” DPP chief Yuichiro Tamaki said at a press conference.
However, Ishiba is still courting other parties including the centrist DPP to secure parliamentary approval to remain prime minister in a vote reportedly slated for November 11.
To win their support, analysts said that Ishiba may agree to tax cuts and stimulus spending that the DPP campaigned on in the snap election.
Also likely seeking to become premier will be Yoshihiko Noda, head of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), whose seat tally rose from 96 in the last election to 148.
In a likely run-off vote, unseen in the past three decades, whoever wins the most votes will become the next leader, even if the person does not have a majority.
“The DPP is in an extremely strong position and holds a ‘casting vote’ that can decide the direction of political momentum,” Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, said in a memo.
Support sinks for Japan coalition after election blow
https://arab.news/zu5k2
Support sinks for Japan coalition after election blow
- Sunday’s snap election left the ruling coalition short of a majority for the first time since 2009
- Shigeru Ishiba has already indicated he will seek to govern a minority administration
US bars five Europeans it says pressured tech firms to censor American viewpoints online
WASHINGTON: The State Department announced Tuesday it was barring five Europeans it accused of leading efforts to pressure US tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.
The Europeans, characterized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations, fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.
“For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose,” Rubio posted on X. “The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.”
The five Europeans were identified by Sarah Rogers, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, in a series of posts on social media. They include the leaders of organizations that address digital hate and a former European Union commissioner who clashed with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump.
Rubio’s statement said they advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and US companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US
The action to bar them from the US is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or sanctions.
The five Europeans named by Rogers are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index; and former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was responsible for digital affairs.
Rogers in her post on X called Breton, a French business executive and former finance minister, the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep Internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.
She referred to Breton warning Musk of a possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his livestream interview with Trump in August 2024 when he was running for president.
Breton responded Tuesday on X by noting that all 27 EU members voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France condemns the visa restrictions on Breton and the four others. Also posting on X, he said the DSA was adopted to ensure that “what is illegal offline is also illegal online.” He said it “has absolutely no extraterritorial reach and in no way concerns the United States.”
Most Europeans are covered by the Visa Waiver Program, which means they don’t necessarily need visas to come into the country. They do, however, need to complete an online application prior to arrival under a system run by the Department of Homeland Security, so it is possible that at least some of these five people have been flagged to DHS, a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details not publicly released.
Other visa restriction policies were announced this year, along with bans targeting foreign visitors from certain African and Middle Eastern countries and the Palestinian Authority. Visitors from some countries could be required to post a financial bond when applying for a visa.
