Japan Ruling Bloc Aims to Submit Lower House Seat Bill Friday

Tokyo, Dec. 3 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling coalition is planning to submit to the Diet, the country’s parliament, on Friday a bill on a framework for a proposed reduction in House of Representatives seats. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its new partner, the Japan Innovation Party, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, are considering including in the bill a clause stipulating that the number of single-seat constituency seats and that of proportional representation seats be automatically cut by 25 and 20, respectively, if the ruling and opposition parties fail to agree on specifics within a year after the legislation takes effect, sources at the two parties said Tuesday. The LDP stopped short of approving the bill on the day, however, in light of objections to Lower House seat reductions from many lawmakers in both the ruling and opposition camps. The all-important lower chamber of the Diet currently has a total of 465 seats–289 constituency seats and 176 proportional representation seats. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, also LDP president, and JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura agreed Monday to reduce Lower House seats by 10 pct, including both constituency and proportional representation seats. Following the agreement, the LDP held a meeting to discuss the bill Tuesday. But many raised opposition to the clause to automatically reduce seats. In talks with reporters, former Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya of the LDP demanded careful discussions. He said: “It is not an issue that should be decided by the ruling side alone. The clause to automatically cut the number of seats should be deleted (from the bill).” Meanwhile, Hirofumi Ryu, Diet affairs chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters Tuesday that the party wants to hold talks with other opposition parties on issues related to the LDP-JIP bill. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, criticized the bill at a press conference, saying: “It fails to address the real issue. We should discuss electoral system reform that involves a reduction in the number of seats.” Makoto Nishida, secretary-general of Komeito, the former coalition partner of the LDP, also rejected the bill, saying at a separate press conference, “No detailed explanations have been given, including on why the number of Lower House seats should be reduced and why a conclusion should be reached within a year.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]