Written on July 2, 2019, this essay sharply criticizes the Asahi Shimbun’s arbitrary reporting on the post-election political landscape, the prospects for constitutional revision forces, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategy regarding dissolution of the lower house.
Through an essay by Ruhi Abiru, it examines the fate of the Democratic Party for the People, the projected gains of the Japan Innovation Party, and the possibility of maintaining a two-thirds constitutional revision bloc, while showing the abnormality of the Asahi attacking even the constitutionally recognized right to dissolve the Diet.
It is a piece that reveals how a newspaper, driven by hostility toward the Abe administration, lost all sense of fairness in its reporting.

2019-07-02
The Asahi brought in Professor Daichi Iwakiri, a constitutional scholar at Rissho University, and even turned its critical eye toward the right of dissolution prescribed by the Constitution.

What follows is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The arbitrariness of the Asahi.　
Domestically, it can be said that there is a high possibility that a simultaneous election for both houses will be shelved.
As far as the Upper House election is concerned, there is a calculation that a certain number of seats can be secured.
However, because the previous Upper House election was too favorable, there is a possibility that the number of seats will be fewer than that time.　
And it is said that after the election, the Democratic Party for the People will collapse.
If that happens, it will likely be absorbed into the Constitutional Democratic Party or the Liberal Democratic Party, but there is a high possibility that a certain number of lawmakers who do not want to go to the Constitutional Democratic Party will move closer to the LDP side.
The Japan Innovation Party, which has been pro-constitutional revision from the beginning, is expected to increase its number of seats.
If that happens, then even if the LDP’s number of seats decreases somewhat, there is a prospect that the two-thirds constitutional revision forces can be maintained.
As for me, to speak frankly, I am hoping for a simultaneous election for both houses.
That is because I want a victory in a simultaneous election and then a swift push toward constitutional revision.　
Prime Minister Abe himself has told those around him, “I will not hold a simultaneous election, but I will carry out constitutional revision.
If I do not revise the Constitution, the next person will neither do it nor be able to do it.
If I judge that a Lower House election is necessary for constitutional revision, then I will dissolve the House at that time.”
It is said to him, “Would it not be disadvantageous after the consumption tax increase?” but he also says, “It does not matter.”
If there is a simultaneous election, he expects that the number of seats in the Lower House will decrease.
He does not know by how much, but if the number is reduced, people will say, “Why did you hold such an election?”
If he is to bear that risk, then it is better to keep the current number of Lower House seats secured and concentrate on the Upper House election.
Besides, “dissolution” can be done at any time depending on his own decision.
There is no need to impatiently say, “Dissolve, dissolve.”
That seems to be Prime Minister Abe’s thinking.　
Of course, unforeseen circumstances may also arise.
For example, if there were an obstructive act like the three-hour speech delivered by Representative Edano in July 2018, Prime Minister Abe might also impulsively decide to accept the challenge and dissolve the House.（laugh）　
The Asahi brought in Professor Daichi Iwakiri, a constitutional scholar at Rissho University, and published an article titled, “Whose Is the Right of Dissolution? Before Being Dismissed, the Diet Should Debate and Compose Its ‘Death Poem’” (dated June 13, 2019).
It is directing criticism even toward the right of dissolution prescribed by the Constitution.
For example, regarding the 2017 “dissolution to break through the national crisis,” it says that the Diet is being slighted.
The Asahi does not criticize other prime ministers this harshly when they dissolve the House.
It is probably hardened by hatred of Abe, but the public also sees through that arbitrariness.
To be continued.