Lower House Speaker Urges Parties to End Diet Impasse

Tokyo, July 1 (Jiji Press)–House of Representatives Speaker Eisuke Mori on Wednesday urged both ruling and opposition parties to return to normal parliamentary business, amid an impasse over bills submitted by the ruling bloc. In a meeting with secretaries-general and other senior officials from seven ruling and opposition parties, Mori also called for prioritizing deliberations on a government-sponsored bill to revise the Imperial House Law as part of efforts to secure an adequate number of Imperial Family members. Referring to the bill, submitted to the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Tuesday, Mori said, “I want top priority to be given to ensuring the bill’s swift passage in a calm and orderly environment.” On the opposition’s demands for intensive Budget Committee deliberations attended by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and a Diet debate among party leaders, he sought further efforts from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party. After the meeting, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, LDP Diet affairs chief Hiroshi Kajiyama and JIP Diet affairs chief Takashi Endo held talks intermittently. Takeshi Shina, secretary-general of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, told reporters that a calm environment would not be created without a solid action by the ruling bloc. The impasse began after the ruling coalition on Tuesday forced committee deliberations on the bill to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, and a bill to establish a secondary capital in Japan, prompting opposition parties to boycott the deliberations. On Tuesday, Diet affairs chiefs from five opposition parties, including the CRA, asked Mori to suspend the deliberations on the two bills, advocated by the JIP, and press the ruling bloc to restore a calm environment. Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, deliberations on the two bills were held at Lower House special committees, but opposition parties boycotted them. Speaking to reporters at the prime minister’s office on Wednesday, Takaichi said, “I have attended Diet meetings and answered questions,” adding that there is no change in that policy. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]