The Upper House election is Sunday. The election represents a chance for voters to give their verdict on the performance of the Democratic Party of Japan-led administration, which began in mid-September 2009 after a historic Lower House election ended decades of Liberal Democratic Party rule.
The leading topic in the election campaign is dicussions on raising the consumption tax in the future to pay for the increasing costs of social welfare and to help push Japan's financial reconstruction.
The DPJ's manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election contained no mention of the consumption tax and the administration of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama refrained from discussing raising the tax. But reversing this, the DPJ under the leadership of Prime Minister Naoto Kan is now asking other parties to jointly discuss the future shape of the tax. Mr. Kan is calling for a three-pronged approach to achieve a "strong economy, strong finances and strong social welfare." The LDP is more specific about the consumption tax. It wants to raise the tax from the current 5 percent to 10 percent.