LDP Less Eager Than JIP on Lower House Seat Cut

Tokyo, April 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, are slated to resume later this month working-level talks on cutting the number of the House of Representatives seats by 10 pct. Last month, the two parties’ leaders confirmed a policy of aiming to enact a related bill during the ongoing session of the Diet, the country’s parliament. The LDP is less enthusiastic than the JIP about the matter, however, after it won more than two-thirds of the 465 seats in the all-important lower Diet chamber in the Feb. 8 general election. The opposition side is also cautious over hasty moves to reduce Lower House seats. The upcoming talks, the first since December last year, will be attended by those including Katsunobu Kato, chairman of the LDP’s Headquarters for Political System Reform, and Yasuto Urano, acting head of the JIP’s election strategy committee. LDP-JIP talks on the proposed Lower House seat reduction have been suspended due to the February general election and Diet deliberations held later. At a meeting on March 17, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who heads the LDP, and JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura reconfirmed plans to aim for realizing the 10 pct cut. The JIP last October agreed with the LDP to form a coalition government while demanding that a cut in the number of Lower House seats be achieved without fail. For the 10 pct cut, the JIP aims to reduce the number of proportional representation seats by 45 from the current 176. But this has drawn opposition from the LDP, mainly among Lower House members with proportional representation seats, while a senior party official said, “We have no choice but to implement the reduction in stages.” The seat reduction issue is becoming less popular within the LDP after its stunning general election victory weakened the JIP’s influence. Some in the JIP think that the LDP disregards the coalition agreement, with a veteran JIP lawmaker saying, “If we don’t say what we should say, we would be overwhelmed by the LDP.” Takaichi is believed to be annoyed by the LDP’s reluctance over the seat reduction issue. “The prime minister is quite concerned about the sense of speed,” a veteran LDP member said. Takaichi has replaced LDP Lower House member Ichiro Aisawa, who is cautious about reducing Lower House seats, with former Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, also an LDP member, as chair of the election system reform committee between the ruling and opposition blocs in order to accelerate the panel’s discussions. At the committee’s meeting Thursday, Suzuki proposed adding a cut in Lower House seats to its agenda, only drawing a flurry of criticism from the opposition side, which argues that discussions should not proceed on the premise that a reduction will be implemented. The opposition camp is strongly opposed to reducing the number of proportional representation seats, which is disadvantageous to smaller political parties. The ruling and opposition sides agreed that how to proceed with deliberations at the committee will be decided through talks among its executive members. The LDP and the JIP will also resume discussions within their respective parties. The LDP is expected to discuss not only a reduction in Lower House seats but also a reform of the entire election system. A party executive said, “We will proceed with our discussions in line with deliberations by the ruling-opposition committee.” The committee had planned to reach a conclusion by around May this year, when preliminary results of the 2025 national census will be announced. But discussions have been suspended due to the February Lower House election. The situation has been complicated also because the opposition Democratic Party for the People is calling for delaying the decision to this autumn, when final census data are expected to become available. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]