Japan Opposition Refuses Vote on Secondary Capital Bill

Tokyo, July 24 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s opposition parties agreed Friday to block a vote on a bill to create a secondary capital, demanding assurances that a local referendum will not coincide with local elections. Deliberations on the bill were held by the Special Committee on Okinawa and Northern Problems as well as Regional Issues of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament. The ruling coalition hopes to move the bill forward to a committee vote later in the day, after deliberations conclude, and secure its passage by the Upper House. Six opposition parties, led by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, have agreed to withhold their consent, intensifying the standoff. Yoshitaka Saito, the CDP’s parliamentary affairs chief, met Yoshihiko Isozaki, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Upper House parliamentary affairs chief at the Diet building. Speaking on behalf of the six parties, Saito said they would agree to a vote if the ruling coalition made a commitment, in both Diet testimony and a supplementary resolution, that a referendum on establishing special wards would not coincide with related local elections. Isozaki told reporters that the ruling coalition would think about the request, saying, “We may have no choice but to consider” extending the current Diet session again. The current extended session is set to end Saturday. Junya Ogawa, leader of the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance, warned at a press conference that if the ruling coalition sought another extension, the opposition would “take every possible countermeasure, including submitting a no-confidence motion against the cabinet.” The parliamentary deadlock also disrupted the Diet schedule. An Upper House plenary session scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. and a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower Diet chamber, set for Friday afternoon, at which Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was due to appear, were left without clear start times. During deliberations in the special committee, the opposition demanded cost estimates for creating a secondary capital. LDP lawmaker Kazuo Yana said establishing backup administrative functions “could cost anywhere from several billion yen to several hundred billion yen,” based on past disaster-response hub projects. Yana, however, did not address broader costs such as transportation and communications infrastructure. The bill would establish a framework for designating a secondary capital capable of assuming key national administrative functions in the event of a major disaster affecting Tokyo. Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the LDP, and governor of the western Japan prefecture of Osaka, is seeking to have Osaka designated as the secondary capital and to hold a referendum alongside next spring’s gubernatorial election. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party for the People and Komeito, both opposition parties, have jointly submitted a bill barring a referendum from being held simultaneously with related local elections. The measure is being deliberated alongside the secondary capital bill. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]