Japan Lower House Passes Referendum Reform Bill

Tokyo, June 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, passed a bill to revise the law on national referendums on constitutional amendments by a majority vote at a plenary session on Friday. The bill was approved with support from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling camp and some opposition parties, including the Centrist Reform Alliance and the Democratic Party for the People. The revision would ease the requirements for appointing referendum watchers, aligning them with those under the public offices election law. The bill was jointly submitted by the ruling pair of the LDP and the Japan Innovation Party, as well as the DPFP and Sanseito. The ruling camp aims to enact the bill during the current Diet session, which ends on July 17. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, head of the LDP, has expressed her intention to pave the way for the Diet’s submission of a constitutional revision proposal, and the amendment to the referendum law is aimed at supporting this effort. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]