Takaichi Rules Out Possibility of Early General Election

Tokyo, Nov. 5 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of dissolving the House of Representatives for an early general election. “We can’t afford to think about dissolving (the Lower House) right now,” Takaichi said at a plenary meeting of the all-important lower chamber of the Diet. The new prime minister, who took office last month, also expressed her willingness to revise the Constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9 and add an emergency clause to the supreme law. “Establishing a Constitution that meets the needs of the times is an urgent task,” she said. The remarks were made in response to questions from party representatives including Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, and Harumi Yoshida, executive deputy president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Yoshida criticized Takaichi’s order to labor minister Kenichiro Ueno to consider easing restrictions on working hours, saying that this could lead to overwork and related deaths. Takaichi replied that she does not accept overtime that could lead to overwork-related deaths, but added that consideration should be based on the actual circumstances and needs of workers. Meanwhile, Tetsuo Saito, leader of Komeito, the former coalition partner of Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, called for support for a bill under consideration by Komeito and the DPFP to strengthen regulations on political donations by companies and other organizations in the wake of the LDP’s slush fund scandal. In response, the prime minister said only that it is important to carefully discuss the necessity and feasibility of such a bill. On a reduction of the number of Lower House lawmakers, included in the coalition agreement between the LDP and its new partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), Saito argued that this “could exclude diversity and destroy democracy.” Takaichi acknowledged a need to “gain as broad support as possible” for the proposed cut. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]