FOCUS: Japan PM Takaichi Holds Key to Breaking Diet Deadlock

Tokyo, July 4 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s decision on whether to attend intensive Budget Committee discussions at the Diet, the country’s parliament, appears to hold the key to breaking the deadlock in the ongoing Diet session over two controversial bills sponsored by the ruling coalition. Opposition parties have also called on the ruling camp to give up the bills to reduce the number of House of Representatives seats and to establish a secondary capital as a condition for starting deliberations on a bill to revise the Imperial House Law as part of efforts to ensure stable Imperial succession. The political maneuvering is expected to intensify, with less than two weeks to go before the current Diet session ends on July 17. Takaichi, who returned home late Friday from India after a summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to receive a report on the situation in the Diet over the weekend and to consider her response. She is scheduled to appear before the Audit Committee of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, on Monday. It will be the first time the prime minister has answered questions in the Diet since June 26. The opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will grill Takaichi over last year’s presidential election for her ruling Liberal Democratic Party, amid allegations that the prime minister’s camp created a video defaming other candidates. As the CDP seeks further explanations from Takaichi, attention is focused on whether the prime minister will say anything to break the stalemate. The conflict between the ruling and opposition parties intensified after the prime minister attempted to put the controversy to rest by submitting a written statement from a secretary on June 22. The Diet business has stalled as the LDP and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, pushed ahead with deliberations on the two controversial bills, which are championed by the JIP, despite the opposition’s demand for intensive Diet deliberations and debates among party leaders. A senior member of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance said that Takaichi needs to participate in Diet deliberations to secure passage of the bills and that intensive deliberations and debates among party leaders are the minimum requirements for returning Diet business to normal. Some within the LDP are also calling for Takaichi to soften her stance. Junichi Ishii, secretary-general of the LDP in the Upper House, said, “It’s desirable to hold intensive discussions.” A senior LDP Upper House member indicated that the prime minister’s office may be asked to have Takaichi attend intensive Budget Committee deliberations. The LDP, which wants to prioritize the bill to revise the Imperial House Law to ensure a sufficient number of Imperial Family members, proposed suspending deliberations on the JIP’s two signature bills, while opposition parties demanded that the two bills be scrapped. The JIP has even called for the ongoing Diet session to be extended for 60 days to ensure the passage of the two bills, apparently taking advantage of Takaichi’s desire to maintain a close relationship with JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura. She is believed to have directed that deliberations on the two bills begin, in line with the JIP’s wishes. The LDP side has shown little enthusiasm for the two bills. As the JIP is unlikely to advance them with only the prime minister’s backing, a veteran LDP member said, “There is no choice but to defer the bill to cut Lower House seats in exchange for the bill to establish a second capital.” As the governor of Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, JIP leader Yoshimura is scheduled to visit Tokyo on Tuesday to attend a ruling camp meeting on the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line. He may discuss the ruling bloc’s Diet strategy with Takaichi on the sidelines of the meeting. Meanwhile, deliberations on bills backed by Takaichi, including a bill that would punish those who vandalize the Japanese national flag, have also stalled. Some say an extension of the ongoing Diet session is inevitable. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]