Ruling-Opposition Battles Enter Endgame amid Tight Schedule

Tokyo, July 12 (Jiji Press)–With the current session of the Diet in its final stretch, ruling-opposition battles are entering the endgame amid a very tight schedule. The session is scheduled to end on Friday but may be extended slightly if deliberations are delayed on pending bills, including a bill to establish a secondary capital in the country, a priority for the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. During a television program on Sunday, Yoshihiko Isozaki, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s parliamentary affairs chief in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, said, “We’ll make every effort to enact all remaining bills.” He added that the ruling bloc is not currently considering extending the session. However, Yoshitaka Saito, the Diet affairs chief of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, stressed, “We have no intention of holding quick deliberations to meet the session deadline.” The session had been in a stalemate until the ruling bloc promised on Wednesday to hold a debate among party leaders and Budget Committee meetings in both Diet chambers with Takaichi in attendance, as well as abandoned the passage during the session of a bill to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber. The ruling and opposition camps agreed to hold the debate on Wednesday and extend the debate time from 45 minutes to one hour. Still, the time needs to be divided among six opposition party leaders. The Democratic Party for the People’s Yuichiro Tamaki will have the longest slot, albeit only 15 minutes. Therefore, opposition parties are emphasizing the Budget Committee meetings, for which schedules are yet to be set. LDP Diet affairs chief Hiroshi Kajiyama said that the Budget Committee meetings will be “held during the ongoing session under the responsibility of the ruling bloc.” Nevertheless, Takaichi has not promised her attendance at the meetings, according to informed sources. “We may boycott deliberations again,” said a middle-ranking member of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance. Thirteen of the government-submitted bills have not been enacted. A senior LDP official admitted that enacting all of the bills by the end of the session would be difficult. Among the remaining bills, a bill to establish a disaster management agency is expected to be enacted on Monday. A bill to revise the Imperial House Law will enter deliberations in the Upper House on Tuesday and is seen as certain to be passed by the end of the session. A bill to overhaul the nation’s retrial system is also on track to be enacted by Friday. The Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’s junior coalition partner, seems determined to pass the secondary capital bill after agreeing to drop the Lower House seat reduction bill. Both bills are championed by the JIP. The LDP-JIP coalition plans to pass the secondary capital bill through the Lower House on Tuesday, but even a single day of delay would make it impossible to enact the bill by the end of the session. “In that case, an extension of the session would be necessary,” said a senior LDP member in the Upper House. Securing a majority vote for the secondary capital bill in the Upper House also remains a hurdle. The ruling bloc agreed Friday to hold talks with the DPFP and Komeito to revise the bill. However, as the DPFP has submitted a counterproposal and is expected to make tough demands, the ruling bloc is also seeking support from Team Mirai and independent lawmakers. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]