Japan’s LDP Mulls Cutting 45 Lower House PR Seats

Tokyo, June 4 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is considering cutting 45 proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, a senior LDP official said Thursday. At a meeting of the LDP’s Headquarters for Political System Reform, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki said that Prime Minister and LDP President Sanae Takaichi had instructed him to build consensus within the party on reducing Lower House seats through cuts to proportional representation seats. While most attendees backed the plan, the LDP decided to continue discussion out of consideration for dissenting opinions. “There are concerns that local voices could be lost amid population decline,” Suzuki said, referring to possible cuts in single-seat constituencies. “I would like to invite discussion on cutting 45 proportional representation seats,” he added. In Thursday’s meeting, many LDP lawmakers voiced support for the proposal to cut proportional representation seats, saying it is undesirable to further reduce constituency seats in regional areas. Meanwhile, others expressed concern that the proposal would not lead to drastic electoral system reform. The Lower House comprises 465 seats–289 for single-seat constituencies and 176 for proportional representation seats. A plan to shrink the chamber by 10 pct was included in the coalition agreement between the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party last year. During an extraordinary Diet session last year, the LDP-JIP coalition submitted a bill to reduce the number of Lower House single-seat constituencies by 25 and proportional representation seats by 20, but the bill was scrapped after the dissolution of the Lower House in January this year. The JIP later called on the LDP to cut 45 Lower House proportional representation seats. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]