自民党総裁選の公開討論会：2024年9月15日（日）

昨日の9月14日（土），日本記者クラブ主催の自民党総裁選候補者9人による公開討論会が開催され，その内容はNHKなどのテレビやネットでライブ中継された。

　私は大学で教えている立場から，特定の政党を支持するのではなく，政治家がどのような理念や信念に基づいて政策設計と政策内容を考えているかに関心がある。しかし，昨日行われた日本記者クラブ主催「自民党総裁選」公開討論会の内容を見る限り，少なくとも，日本のための政策論戦ではなく，自民党のための政策広報との印象しか持てなかった。

　「政治とカネ」の問題により，政治に対する国民の信頼が失われた。これを回復するために，8月14日，岸田首相は次の自民党総裁選挙（9月27日投票）に不出馬を表明した。その際，岸田首相は「自民党が変わることを国民の前にしっかりと示すことが必要だ。変わることを示す最も分かりやすい最初の一歩は私が身を引くことだ。来たる総裁選挙には出馬しない」と会見で述べた。

　ということは，日本政治を長期的な時系列で大局的に考えるならば，日本のための政策論戦となるためには，「政治とカネ」の問題解決に関する決着をするための政治改革の具体的な方策に関する議論が「いの一番」に徹底的に「国民が『なるほど』と納得ができる」まで行われる必要がある。

　それをせずに，外交政策，経済政策，エネルギー政策，社会保障政策，選択的夫婦別姓などを議論したところで，国民が「岸田政権のもとで議論しておけば良かったことではないか」と思うのは当たり前のことだ。むしろ，岸田首相が自民党総裁選挙に不出馬を決めた政治的決断の意義が失われることになる。既に「政治とカネ」問題の解決は，闇に葬られたということか。どうしたら，「政治とカネ」の問題を解決できるかを知りたい。

　こうした視座で昨日の公開討論会を評価すると，公開討論会をお膳立てした日本記者クラブと，代表質問を担当した日本記者クラブの企画委員4人も，ある意味で，自民党広報の歯車として利用されていると言っても過言ではないだろう。不注意にも，自民党を支持するか，支持しないかにかかわらず，国民はこの演出に騙されてはいけない。

The Public Debate for the LDP Presidential Election: Sunday, September 15, 2024

Yesterday, on Saturday, September 14th, a public debate featuring nine candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election, organized by the Japan National Press Club, was held and broadcast live on TV and online by NHK and other media outlets.

As a university professor, I am not interested in supporting any specific political party, but rather in understanding what principles and beliefs politicians base their policy design and content on. However, judging from the content of the public debate hosted by the Japan National Press Club for the 'Liberal Democratic Party Presidential Election' held yesterday, I could not help but feel that it was not a policy debate for the sake of Japan, but merely a publicity campaign for the Liberal Democratic Party.

Due to the issue of "money and politics," the public's trust in politics has been lost. In order to restore this trust, Prime Minister Kishida announced on August 14 that he would not run in the upcoming LDP presidential election (voting to be held on September 27). At the time, Prime Minister Kishida stated in a press conference, "It is necessary to clearly show the public that the LDP is changing. The most straightforward first step to show that change is for me to step down. I will not be running in the upcoming presidential election."

In other words, if we consider Japanese politics from a long-term and broad perspective, for the sake of conducting policy debates that truly benefit Japan, it is essential that discussions on concrete measures for political reform to resolve the 'politics and money' issue be conducted thoroughly as the first and foremost priority, to the point where the public can genuinely say, 'I understand, that makes sense.'

Without addressing this, even if debates on foreign policy, economic policy, energy policy, social security policy, or selective surnames for married couples are held, it is only natural for the public to think, 'Shouldn't these debates have taken place during the Kishida administration?' If anything, the significance of Prime Minister Kishida's political decision not to run for the LDP presidential election will be undermined. Has the resolution of the 'politics and money' issue already been buried in the shadows? I want to know how we can solve the 'politics and money' issue.

Evaluating yesterday's public debate from this perspective, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the Japan National Press Club, which organized the debate, and the four planning committee members from the Press Club who were in charge of the main questions, were in a sense being used as tools for the Liberal Democratic Party's public relations. Whether they support the Liberal Democratic Party or not, the public must not be fooled by this performance, even if they unwittingly fall into this trap.