The heads of four opposition parties criticized the administration of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Monday for failing to resuscitate the economy, vowing to keep the ruling party from taking a majority in the House of Councilors election next month.
Komei leader Toshiko Hamayotsu stressed that her party will do its best to fight the Liberal Democratic Party in the election. "The Hashimoto administration should take responsibility for causing the lingering economic slump through a series of economic policy failures.
"If the LDP regains a majority in the chamber, it will lead to the revival of a political monopoly, despite its policy failures," she told a news conference at the Japan National Press Club.