Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)

Koga Speaks out!
On DPJ leader Maehara’s announcement of resignation and the verifying report on the e-mail fiasco

1.    Democratic Party of Japan leader Mr. Maehara announced today in a DPJ Diet members’ meeting that he would step down to take responsibility for the Horie e-mail fiasco. Mr. Nagata, DPJ M.P., submitted his resignation to the House of Representatives.
   
   
2.    In the DPJ meeting, following Maehara’s announcement, Mr. Koichiro Genba, chair of the party’s internal investigative team, presented a report on the fiasco. We welcome the report, but cannot help pointing out the fact that the DPJ has, for a month and a half, failed to disclose the truth, thrown the Diet into confusion and betrayed people’s trust. We regret the report came too late. The DPJ must let it be a lesson to make preparations for future risk management and immediately rebuild an adamantine organizational structure.
   
   
3.    The DPJ will choose a new leader in next Diet members’ meeting on 7 April. RENGO has an earnest desire that the whole party will have a sense of crisis in common in the current difficult situation under new leadership and put all its efforts to recover the ground they have lost. RENGO will support DPJ’s desperate efforts in rebuilding to this end.
   
      RENGO also hopes that the DPJ will have a controversy in the Diet on matters of great importance, including the medical reforms, the revision of the Equal Opportunity Law, an Administrative Reform Promotion Law, to come up to people’s expectations as “the responsible opposition”.