LDP Seeks 1-Year Lawmaker Term Extension in Emergency Clause

Tokyo, April 23 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday called for allowing the terms of lawmakers to be extended for about a year under a proposed emergency clause as part of efforts to revise the Constitution. An extension of about a year is needed if large-scale disasters or terrorist attacks, including a potential megaquake in the Nankai Trough off the country’s Pacific coast, occur, LDP lawmaker Yoshitaka Shindo said at the Commission on the Constitution in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament. Shindo also suggested that lawmakers’ terms could be re-extended. He proposed that a concrete idea for the clause be presented at the commission’s next meeting. Kaoru Nishida of the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’s coalition partner, stressed the need to present a schedule for constitutional revisions. Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, said it would be “more constitutional” to postpone election dates and extend the terms of lawmakers if it is difficult to hold elections for a long time. Masamune Wada of Sanseito, an opposition party, said whether lawmakers’ terms should be extended under an emergency clause should be discussed under a broader context of constitutional revisions. Aoi Furukawa of Team Mirai, an opposition party, said that situations in which the terms of lawmakers would need to be extended need to be sorted out. Toru Kunishige of the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance did not clarify his party’s position on the functions of parliament during emergencies, explaining that the CRA is holding debates on the matter. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]