A Japanese lawmaker, better known as a celebrity gossip YouTuber, was expelled from parliament for failing to show up for work — even once.
Populist parties haven’t gained as much of a foothold in Japan as in other industrialized democracies in recent years.
Jeffrey J. Hall, a political expert at the Kanda University of International Studies, said teaming up with GaaSyy helped the NHK party reach a large enough share of the national vote to qualify for a seat in parliament. “Over a million people voted for this party in the last election,” he said in an email. “It is significant that so many people could be mobilized around a fringe party that mainly spreads its message through YouTube and other social media.”
He noted that GaaSyy’s expulsion doesn’t bar him from competing in future elections. Many of those who voted for GaaSyy see him as a truth-teller being targeted by the Japanese establishment, and “probably don’t care” about his absences, Hall said. “They aren’t expecting their politicians to sit in sessions and do the same things normal politicians do.”His party may be moving on, however. It recently changed its name to the Female Politicians 48 party.
In a statement read out in parliament Tuesday, GaaSyy said: “There will continue to be people like me running for office. If you do not want the world you have made to be destroyed, please exclude those people from the candidacy process from the very beginning.”
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