Akita Prefecture Says No

In response to Liberal Democratic Party's Diet members selecting Abe Shinzo on the second ballot in yesterday's presidential election, despite Ishiba Shigeru's having won 55% of the prefectural branch vote, whereas Abe won only 29%, four members of the Akika prefecture LDP Branch including branch chairman Ono Chuemon* resigned in protest. "Is it not the case that [the members of the Diet] are not listening to the voices of the countryside (chiho)?" asked Ono at the press conference.

Branch Secretary-General Shibuya Masatoshi's view was even more bitterly cynical:

"Ishiba received twice as many prefectural votes as Abe. If they are not listening to the voice of the countryside, and not sincerely reflecting the views of us party members, why not just have the vote only of the Diet members right from the start?"

(Link - J)

Note to Abe-san: if the chiho party membership does not like you, and knows darn well the party cannot use the national budget to shower the marginal prefectures with white elephant projects, you had better have a good explanation on how the LDP is going to handle drafting a post-election coalition policy platform with the pro-Trans Pacific Partnership Japan Restoration Party.

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*It is grand that there are still folks around with Edo Era-style personal names.