Secondary Capital Bill Seen Clearing Japan Lower House Wed.

Tokyo, July 14 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling and opposition parties agreed Tuesday to put a bill to establish a secondary capital of the country to a House of Representatives committee vote Wednesday, a development making it possible for the legislation to clear the lower parliamentary chamber later that day. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, previously aimed to secure the bill’s passage through the Lower House on Tuesday, but decided to delay the plan by one day as they took the opposition side’s opinions into consideration. After the vote at the Lower House special committee on regional revitalization Wednesday, the bill is likely to gain approval of the full Lower House later in the day and will then be sent to the House of Councillors, the upper chamber. The ruling camp has a comfortable majority in the Lower House. With the current parliamentary session slated to end Friday, the deliberation schedule at the Upper House is bound to be very tight. The envisaged secondary capital is aimed at supplementing the functions of Japan’s capital, Tokyo, in the event of disasters. The bill is pushed by the JIP. On Tuesday, executives of the ruling camp and Team Mirai, an opposition party, agreed to tweak the bill to include a provision on the use of information and communication technology. The ruling parties are four seats short of an Upper House majority. If the two Team Mirai-related lawmakers back the bill, the ruling bloc will only have to secure support from two other Upper House lawmakers. The ruling parties have been in talks with two more opposition parties–the Democratic Party for the People and Komeito–on the bill. Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the DPFP, which has submitted a counterproposal to the parliament, said, “We hope to continue talks (with the ruling side).” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]