No Candidates in This Upper House Election

* This article was written as of July 2, 2019. Updated October 11, 2021.

In street speeches on June 29 and 30, Channel Sakura's president Satoru Mizushima announced that the National Conservative Party would not field candidates in this House of Councillors election.

The priority would be building Kunimorishu, the party's grassroots action group. He also said, in effect, that the party did not yet have enough strength to field candidates, and in his speeches he described all political parties as corrupt and decadent.

Running in the 2021 Lower House Election

Not under the name “National Conservative Party” but as Shinto Kunimori, the group decided to run candidates in Wakayama 3rd District and Chiba 10th District in the 2021 House of Representatives election.

Some criticize it as a fundraising business akin to a religion, but President Mizushima and candidates Nana Honma and Mari Azusa appear to be serious.

» Shinto Kunimori leader Nana Honma announces candidacy in Wakayama 3rd District

A Proposal from President Mizushima

For voters who do not want to support any party in this election, or who want to use the ballot to reject the current state of politics, he proposed casting a blank ballot in protest — or writing “Kunimorishu” on it. He also suggested writing an opinion, such as opposition to the consumption tax hike.

Such votes are counted as invalid, but he argued that this is completely different from not voting. If invalid votes rise to 10, 20 or 30 percent, they convey the will of the people to politics. Going to the polls while expressing that you support none of the current parties is entirely different from staying home.

It made me realize that there is a way to express distrust of today's politics: casting an invalid vote to convey the public will.

July 2, 2019 — sandragon965

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