3 Japan Opposition Heads Agree to Set Up Body for Merger Talks

Tokyo, June 26 (Jiji Press)–The leaders of the Centrist Reform Alliance, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito at a meeting Friday agreed to set up a body for discussions on a potential merger of the three Japanese opposition parties. CRA chief Junya Ogawa proposed establishing such a body to CDP leader Shunichi Mizuoka and Komeito head Toshiko Takeya on June 19. The CDP agreed to launch the talks although some in the party remain cautious about the three-party merger. The secretaries-general and other officials of the three parties will start next week talks on how to cooperate on organizational structures, policies and elections. With the current session of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, slated to end July 17, the focus in the discussions will be to what extent the parties can narrow the gaps among them. In talks with reporters after Friday’s meeting, Takeya reiterated her call for a merger this autumn, saying that “we should aim to agree on a certain direction by the end of this Diet session and form a bloc of centrist forces” in both the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, and the House of Councillors, the upper chamber, during the next parliamentary session. By contrast, Mizuoka said, “We would like to discuss the matter thoroughly, so we should not set a goal before the start of the talks.” “Each party has its own circumstances,” Ogawa said, adding, “We want to carefully proceed with the discussions although an early agreement is preferable.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]