Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)–The opposition Democratic Party for the People on Monday drew up its own proposal to reduce by 19 the number of seats allocated through the proportional representation system of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament. The party accepted the idea of reducing proportional representation seats while withholding judgment on a compromise proposal by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to cut them by 31. Coordination efforts between the ruling and opposition parties are expected to continue. The DPFP’s proposed reduction was based on population decline rates calculated from the 2015 and 2025 national censuses. “We reluctantly accept cuts limited to the proportional representation system,” Motohisa Furukawa, acting leader of the DPFP, told reporters. Meanwhile, Hirofumi Yoshimura, governor of Osaka Prefecture and leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the ruling LDP, said at a government-ruling coalition liaison meeting, “We should stick to the coalition agreement to cut seats by 45, or 10 pct.” He also told reporters, “We want to draw a conclusion (on the LDP compromise proposal) while also considering opinions from opposition parties.” At a meeting of the JIP’s political reform headquarters, participants called one after another for the passage of the ruling coalition’s bill incorporating a 45-seat reduction. The party did not decide to support or oppose the LDP’s latest proposal, and left the decision to its executive board, including Fumitake Fujita, party co-leader. The LDP and JIP submitted a bill to cut 45 proportional representation seats during the previous special Diet session. Opposition parties opposed the bill, and discussions on it have continued. The LDP presented the compromise proposal on Thursday to political parties after reducing the planned cut from 45 to 31 seats in an effort to win support from the DPFP. The ruling coalition and opposition parties agreed to compile a proposal by the end of this month to revise the lower chamber’s election system. Takeshi Shina, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Reform Party, and Satoshi Takayama, Diet affairs chief of opposition Team Mirai, said their parties would oppose the LDP proposal. Among others in the opposition camp, Komeito and Sanseito also indicated that they would oppose it. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
