53 Pct Support Plan to Cut 45 Lower House PR Seats in Japan: Poll

Tokyo, June 18 (Jiji Press)–A Jiji Press opinion poll showed Thursday that 53.4 pct of respondents support a plan to reduce 45 of the 176 proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament. The figure was far higher than the 15.7 pct who oppose the reduction in proportional representation seats, which is being considered under a proposal by the ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party to reduce the number of seats in the Lower House, which comprises 465 seats, by 10 pct. The proportion of respondents who back neither side or are unsure came to 30.9 pct in the four-day poll through Monday. Among supporters of the LDP and the JIP, the share of respondents who back the plan to reduce proportional representation seats stood at 64.6 pct and 70.8 pct, respectively, while that of those who oppose the plan came to 11.5 pct and 8.3 pct. Opposition parties argue that reducing seats only under the proportional representation system would disproportionately harm small and midsize parties. Among supporters of the Democratic Party for the People, however, 66.7 pct back the plan and 8.3 pct disagree with it. Among supporters of Sanseito, 48.5 pct back the plan while 12.1 pct oppose it. Among supporters of Team Mirai, 64.3 pct are in favor of the plan while 21.4 pct are against it. Of Centrist Reform Alliance supporters, 50 pct oppose the plan, about 8 percentage points higher than those supporting it. The opposition rate stood at 60.0 pct each among Japanese Communist Party supporters and Conservative Party of Japan supporters, 47.4 pct among Constitutional Democratic Party supporters and 38.5 pct among Komeito supporters. Opinions were evenly divided among Reiwa Shinsengumi and Social Democratic Party supporters. The interview survey covered 2,000 people aged 18 or older across the country. Valid responses came from 57.1 pct of those surveyed. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]