Japan Opposition Camp to Demand Seat-Cut Discussions Be Put Off

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s opposition forces agreed Monday to demand postponement of discussions on the ruling coalition-proposed bill to cut the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament. The agreement came at a meeting of Diet affairs chiefs from the opposition leader Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, Komeito, Reiwa Shinsengumi, the Japanese Communist Party and Yushi no Kai, a group of independent lawmakers in the Lower House. Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner, in particular hopes that the bill will be passed into law during the ongoing Diet session through Dec. 17. But the opposition parties and the in-house group decided to call on the ruling coalition to rather give priority to discussing bills to regulate political donations from companies and other organizations at the Lower House Special Committee on Political Reform, which is chaired by a CDP member. “(The committee) will not be able to enter deliberations (on the seat-cut bill) until a conclusion is reached on strengthening restrictions on organizational donations,” CDP Diet affairs head Hirofumi Ryu told reporters after the meeting. He also criticized the bill itself as “unacceptable,” pointing out that it contains an automatic seat reduction clause. After being informed of the opposition stance at a meeting with Ryu, LDP Diet affairs chief Hiroshi Kajiyama told the press that he will keep working to have the bill pass through the Diet by the end of the session. But given the slimmer chances of the bill getting enacted smoothly, Nippon Ishin may demand that the Diet session be extended, observers said. In a related development Monday, the opposition camp at an executives’ meeting of the Lower House Rules and Administration Committee turned down a ruling bloc request for sending the seat-cut bill to the special political reform committee. Meanwhile, executives of the special committee agreed to discuss the donation bills on Tuesday. But the opposition side rejected the ruling coalition’s proposal to vote on them the same day, arguing that the deliberation time would be insufficient. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]