LDP, Nippon Ishin to Reach Lower House Seat Cut Deal in A Year

Tokyo, Nov. 21 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), on Friday agreed to finalize a plan to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives within a year. At their working-level talks, the LDP and Nippon Ishin agreed to discuss the details at a council on Lower House electoral systems, which is joined by both ruling and opposition parties, before reaching a conclusion. The ruling parties also affirmed plans to submit a bill outlining a roadmap on the issue to the current extraordinary session of the Diet, the country’s parliament. They aim to enact it during the session. The council was established under Lower House Speaker Fukushiro Nukaga. The all-important Diet chamber currently has 465 seats–289 single-member constituency seats and 176 proportional representation seats. Under their coalition agreement reached last month, the LDP and Nippon Ishin pledged to aim for enacting legislation to cut the number of Lower House seats, preferably by 10 pct, during the ongoing Diet session. At Friday’s meeting, the two parties agreed that the proposed legislation should set a new Lower House seat cap of “no more than 420,” meaning that at least 45 seats would be eliminated. The legislation, however, would not mention whether proportional representation or single-member constituency seats should be reduced, according to working-level officials. Nippon Ishin has called for abolishing about 50 proportional representation seats, and for ensuring steps to implement the Lower House downsizing. The talks were attended by Katsunobu Kato, head of the LDP’s Headquarters for Political System Reform, and Yasuto Urano, acting chief of Nippon Ishin’s election strategy headquarters. The two parties plan to begin discussions with opposition parties after completing their respective procedures. At the Friday meeting, Urano said, “If no conclusion is reached within a year, there should be a measure to (automatically) cut the number of proportional representation seats by 50.” At a meeting Thursday, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki and Fumitake Fujita, co-leader of Nippon Ishin, confirmed their commitment to drafting an effective bill. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]