Tokyo, Oct. 28 (Jiji Press)–The opposition Democratic Party for the People and the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will support the LDP’s revised proposal to cut 31 proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives, it was learned Wednesday. The DPFP and the JIP expressed their support for the LDP proposal at the day’s working-level meeting of nine ruling and opposition parties on electoral system reform for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet. Although opposition parties other than the DPFP rejected the LDP proposal, it is now expected to win a majority vote in both Diet chambers. It could be enacted during the current Diet session. On Thursday, the LDP, JIP and DPFP secretaries-general will meet to conclude an official agreement on the matter. The timing of submitting a related bill will be carefully considered to avoid affecting deliberations on consumption tax cut legislation. The JIP had demanded a cut of 45 proportional representation seats in the Lower House, but it decided at a meeting of party executives on Wednesday to accept the LDP proposal. Meanwhile, the DPFP, which had drawn up its own proposal to cut 19 proportional representation seats, decided to back the LDP proposal because it includes the introduction of a system allowing two or more parties to compile a joint list of proportional representation candidates based on the opposition party’s proposal. “Most of our ideas, except for the number of seats (to be cut), were adopted (by the LDP),” DPFP acting leader Motohisa Furukawa told a news conference. In addition to the cut of 31 seats and the introduction of the joint candidate list system, the LDP proposal calls for the adoption of a modified Sainte-Lague method for proportional representation seat allocation, which is more advantageous to small parties than the current format, the merger of the Chugoku and Shikoku proportional representation blocs in western Japan to reduce the total number of blocs from 11 to 10, and a hike in the share of votes required for candidates who fail to win a constituency seat to secure a proportional representation seat. The party also called for allowing proportional representation seats to remain vacant when there are no candidates and lowering the threshold for the number of votes required for candidates not to lose their election deposits in such cases. Furthermore, the LDP proposed a study on the handling of political subsidies when a lawmaker elected from a political party under the proportional representation system moves to another party. The Lower House has a total of 465 seats, including 289 constituency seats and 176 proportional representation seats. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
