Toshiki Kaifu

Toshiki Kaifu (1989)

Toshiki Kaifu ( Japanese 海 部 俊 樹 , Kaifu Toshiki ; born January 2, 1931 in Nagoya ) is a former Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). From August 9, 1989 to November 1991, he was the 48th Prime Minister of Japan and was a member of the Shūgiin , the lower house, for the 9th constituency of Aichi Prefecture . He belonged to the Nikai faction .

Promotion in the LDP

Kaifu studied literature at Waseda University . In the 1960 Shūgiin election , he was elected to parliament for the first time as the country's youngest member of parliament. He has since been re-elected 15 times. In 1966 he was first secretary of state (first in the Ministry of Labor), 1976 first education minister in the Cabinet of Takeo Fukuda . Within the party he belonged to the Miki faction and after the withdrawal of Miki Takeo was one of the most influential politicians of the faction behind the chairman Toshio Kōmoto .

From 1985 to 1986 Kaifu was again Minister of Education. Against the background of the scandals that damaged the LDP in the late 1980s, Kaifu spoke out in favor of “clean politics” and moderate reforms. After the recruit scandal had brought the party chairman Noboru Takeshita down in 1989, his successor Uno Sosuke had to resign after only three months because of a scandal. On August 8, 1989, Kaifu was elected party chairman by the LDP MPs in both chambers with 279 votes against Yoshirō Mori (120 votes) and Shintarō Ishihara (48 votes).

Reign and fall

Kaifu was considered a weak prime minister because his faction was one of the smaller in the LDP and he was therefore dependent on concessions from the larger factions within the party. However, he enforced an “ethical standard” and avoided reassigning posts to politicians affected by scandals, as was otherwise the case.

After only two years in office, major party leaders withdrew their support. He announced that he would not run again for the party chairmanship. In November 1991 he resigned and was replaced by Miyazawa Kiichi , who, with cover from the big factions, made many politicians affected by the recruit scandal back to ministerial. Kaifu's ideas for a “clean policy” and a planned reform of electoral law were put aside again.

Miyazawa's reign was marked by new scandals. The 1992 Sagawa Express scandal in particular shook the LDP's credibility. With the establishment of the New Japan Party , a “boom in new parties” began, fueled by dissatisfied MPs who left the LDP. On June 18, the Reform Forum 21, the faction of Tsutomu Hata and Ichirō Ozawa , together with the opposition voted for a no-confidence vote, so brought down Miyazawa and then left the LDP to found the Renewal Party . The resulting new elections confirmed the split in the LDP and led to the first change in power since the LDP was founded in 1955.

Opposition and return to the LDP

Kaifu himself left the party in 1994 after returning to government in April thanks to internal conflicts in the coalition government and cooperation with the Japanese Socialist Party . Together with Ozawa and Hata, he founded the New Progress Party and became its first party leader. After the dissolution of the party, from 1998 he belonged to the “Assembly of Independents”, from 1999 to the Liberal Party of Ozawa. A year later he was one of the MPs who wanted to work with the LDP, the founders of the Conservative Party . In 2003 he returned to the LDP together with the remaining MPs of his party and formed the Nikai faction there.

In the Shūgiin election in 2009 , Kaifu lost his constituency and then declared his retirement from politics.

Awards

• 1998: Large silver medal on ribbon for services to the Republic of Austria

See also

• Cabinet Kaifu I
• Cabinet Kaifu II
• Cabinet Kaifu II (reshuffle)

Web links

Commons : Toshiki Kaifu  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)