2020 Dayashinese general election
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All 500 seats in the National Diet 251 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 72.2% (projected) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2020 Dayashinese general election will be held on 21 October 2020. Daichi Noru seeks his third mandate as Prime Minister of Dayashina which would make him the longest continuously serving head of government in modern Dayashinese history. An emboldened and strengthened Liberal opposition, led by Mizuho Takaichi, seeks a victory against Noru.
Background
The 2020 election is considered to be one of the most contentious and closely-fought elections in Dayashinese history, with the highest voter turnout projections ever collected. Prime Minister Daichi Noru's "conservative revitalisation movement" saw the National Diet double down conservative policies/reforms and strengthen the military industrial complex with levels of defence spending unseen since the height of the Cold War between Dayashina and Menghe. Noru received blazing criticism from millions of Dayashinese over the perceived weakening of the Dayashinese welfare state in favour of further defence spending, leading to the passage of the 2019 Dayashinese defence reforms, a significant victory for the opposition leading up to the election. Noru has also been thoroughly criticised for his anti-progressive views on LGBT rights as well as his coalition with the Rising Sun Party, which has been accused of openly endorsing racism, fascism, and authoritarian militarism. Opposition leaders have accused Noru of enabling the return of Dayashinese militarism, imperialism, and supremacy ideals back to mainstream politics, which many insist are fundamentally existential threats to the continuity of the Republic. Furthermore, Noru has received significant backlash from opposition parties over his handling of foreign policy. Having fully embraced the ideals of interventionism, Dayashina has been simultaneously engaged in several distant conflicts, including the 2019 Invasion of Vyzhva, the Bakhriyan Civil War, and the 2016 Kouraki War. Under Noru's mandates, the Republic of Dayashina Defence Forces have substantially strengthened their global presence, with operations active in several continents. Noru's policy on Menghean liberalisation and reform, strong as they are, are seen as insufficient or "too convenient" by opposition parties.
Given the sweeping policy disagreements, the election is projected to be one of the most contested in the history of the Republic, with polls projecting victories by small margins on both sides. Noru seeks to entrench his Conservative government by winning historically opposition seats, anticipating the downfall in popularity of the Rising Sun Party, and the subsequent loss of National Front coalition seats. Meanwhile, Mizuho Takaichi and her Liberal Party seek to ride the wave of criticism against Noru to the top, and are projected to flip several Conservative seats in urban areas. With the Nationalist Labour Party under Michael Matsunami universally projected to grow in seat count, rumours suppose that the Liberal Party and Nationalist Labour Party could form a governing coalition in the upcoming election. Tatsuo Akiba's Freedom Party and Taro Kono's Karuṇā Party are expected to maintain their seats, but are unlikely to grow.
Policy positions
Tax, spending, and economics
The National Front coalition pledged to renew and revitalise their commitment to the Dayashinese welfare state, with Noru conceding that his interpretations relative to national healthcare and income equality were indeed "insufficient for the rightful demands of the Dayashinese people." They vowed to push a wholesale increase in funding for the national healthcare programme, with a strong emphasis on the expansion of the veteran healthcare programme, with more Dayashinese servicemen than ever returning from their deployments with impeding mental health concerns. Despite this, they maintain their commitment to make every effort to avoid income tax hikes, forcing them to consider slight increases to corporate tax and eliminations of significant corporate tax breaks.
The Liberal Party, Nationalist Labour Party, and Karuṇā Party share very similar views relative to economics, all arguing for the strengthening of the Dayashinese welfare state via a sweeping increase of corporate, income, and transition tax rates. The Liberal Party projected that they would be able to raise over $121 billion/year with their proposed tax increases, and pledged to use it to strengthen funding for all domestic welfare sectors, including already very well funded areas of the state such as public education, infrastructure, and energy maintenance.
The Freedom Party continues their commitment to the diminishing of publicly funded programmes in favour of the strengthening of private ventures, which they insist would increase the efficiency and speed with which Dayashina advances its levels of economic and infrastructural development. They laid out a proposal that would slightly decrease both corporate and income tax and expansion of corporate tax breaks, complemented by a blanket decrease in welfare and economic security spending in favour of research and development stimulus funding and private healthcare/infrastructure ventures.
Culture
The National Front coalition pledged to continue their commitments to bringing Dayashinese traditionalism, spirituality, and history into the minds and lives of the Dayashinese people and the global Dayashinese diaspora via the endorsement and funding of several cultural celebration events and national holiday procedures. They also have planned expansions for the celebration and protection of multiculturalism and mixed cultural identity within Dayashina, given the contemporary increase of mixed Dayashinese in the country as a result of Noru's programme to incentivise members of the global Dayashinese diaspora to immigrate to Dayashina. Furthermore, they plan to double down on their emphasis of collective strength and natural destiny as core values to the prosperity of Dayashinese people, using the success of the Dayashinese economy and military as figurative monuments to the abundance and capability of the nation. The Freedom Party shares these ideals for cultural celebration in the nation.
The Liberal Party and Nationalist Labour Party are largely on board with an increased level of both funding and emphasis on the celebration and embracing of traditional culture as a method of solace and security to the masses of people living stressful, fast, and modern lives. They vowed to double down on the celebration of Dayashinese multiculturalism, and to introduce more laws and regulations meant to combat racism and ethnic nationalism. Both parties dispute the central importance of strength and destiny as part of Dayashinese values, and state that such emphasis on these aspects using the military as the mode for celebration is largely responsible for the revitalisation of Dayashinese militarism in mainstream politics, something that the Republic foundationally pledged to never endorse again.
The Karuṇā Party agrees with the Liberal Party and National Labour Party's stances on combating racism and the de-emphasising of the military as a core part of the Dayashinese cultural outlook. It emphasises the importance of Buddhist values and principles, especially those of peace and compassion, to the continued collective and individual success, as well as moral clarity for the Dayashinese people.