Takaichi to Give Policy Speech in Upper House Fri.

Tokyo, Oct. 22 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan on Wednesday reached a broad agreement to have newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi deliver a policy speech in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Friday. The agreement was reached during a meeting of the two parties’ Diet affairs chiefs for the Upper House. A question-and-answer session on Takaichi’s policy address in the Upper House will be held on Nov. 5-6. Diet affairs chiefs from the ruling and opposition parties also held a meeting in the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, on Wednesday. During the meeting, the opposition parties demanded that a bill to scrap the provisional gasoline tax surcharge be enacted by the end of October. Because the ruling bloc of the LDP and Nippon Ishin No Kai (Japan Innovation Party) did not clarify its response to this request immediately, the schedule for Takaichi’s policy address and other events in the Lower House was not finalized. Also in the meeting, the opposition side emphasized the need to build consensus through discussions on the ruling bloc’s proposal to reduce the number of Lower House seats. “We have not reached a point where we can agree (on the parliamentary schedule),” CDP Diet affairs chief Hirofumi Ryu told reporters after the meeting, suggesting that the opposition side will reconsider the schedule after seeing what proposals the ruling bloc makes on the gasoline tax cut bill. Earlier on Wednesday, Komeito participated in a meeting of opposition parties’ Diet affairs chiefs for the first time since it dissolved its ruling coalition relationship with the LDP. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]