Tokyo, Oct. 5 (Jiji Press)–An extraordinary session of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, convened on Monday, setting the stage for the first parliamentary debate since the cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month. In the 222nd Diet session, scheduled to run for 69 days until Dec. 12, key agenda items will include legislation to cut the consumption tax on food and the ruling parties’ plans to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the lower Diet chamber. After an opening ceremony attended by Emperor Naruhito and Takaichi’s policy speech before both chambers Monday, party representatives will ask questions on the speech from Wednesday to Friday. The Lower House Budget Committee, attended by all cabinet members including Takaichi, is expected to begin deliberations Oct. 13. “We hope to steadily implement a drastic policy shift as a cabinet committed to determination, challenge and action,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference. Meanwhile, Shunichi Mizuoka, leader of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, expressed a readiness to confront the ruling camp, saying, “We need to take highly effective support measures as inflation continues.” The Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling camp, a minority in the Senate, the upper chamber previously called the House of Councillors, plans to seek cooperation from opposition parties to pass the consumption tax legislation. During the previous special Diet session, which ended in July, the ruling parties submitted a bill to reduce the number of proportional representation seats by 45. However, opposition parties rejected the measure, leading it to be carried over for further deliberations. Although the two sides have agreed to reach a conclusion on Lower House electoral reforms by the end of this month, it remains unclear whether they can agree on a seat reduction. The ruling camp is prepared to resume Diet deliberations on the bill if no such agreement is reached. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
