LDP Begins Internal Talks on Lower House Seat Reduction

Tokyo, Nov. 12 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party began internal discussions Wednesday on a proposal to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, or parliament. The party agreed with its new coalition partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), to aim for enacting legislation to reduce Lower House seats during the ongoing extraordinary Diet session, slated to run through Dec. 17. “We need to proceed firmly with the agreed matters,” LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki said at Wednesday’s meeting of the party’s political system reform headquarters, chaired by former Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato. Suzuki also said, “We should lay the political foundations and tackle many issues at any cost,” calling on meeting participants to hold “in-depth discussions” as the time is limited. Echoing the secretary-general’s view, Kato said, “We need to deepen discussions and reach a conclusion as soon as possible.” The two parties have agreed to submit a lawmaker-sponsored bill on cutting the number of Lower House seats by 10 pct, aiming to enact it during the current parliamentary session. There are currently 465 seats in the chamber–289 single-member constituency seats and 176 proportional representation seats. Meanwhile, Suzuki and his counterpart from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Jun Azumi, agreed Wednesday that there need to be broad discussions between ruling and opposition parties on the Lower House seat reduction. Parties other than Nippon Ishin have many members who are reluctant to reduce Lower House seats, making it uncertain whether the planned legislation will be passed during the ongoing session. “We agreed that this is a matter that should not be decided solely by the LDP and Nippon Ishin,” Azumi told reporters after the meeting, emphasizing that a council on the lower chamber’s electoral system, established under Lower House Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga, should be utilized. LDP parliamentary affairs chief Hiroshi Kajiyama, who also attended the Suzuki-Azumi meeting with his CDP counterpart Hirofumi Ryu, told reporters that discussions on reducing Lower House seats should incorporate the opinions of each party. The LDP and CDP secretaries-general also agreed to speed up cross-party discussions on measures to combat disinformation and misinformation on social media during election campaign periods. “We will introduce proper regulations while protecting the freedom of expression, ahead of next year’s ordinary parliamentary session,” Azumi said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]