TOKYO - Opposition parties boycotted Diet deliberations after accusing the ruling bloc of forcing debate on bills to cut the number of lawmakers and create a secondary capital system, leaving committee sessions to proceed without them and exposing widening rifts not only between the ruling and opposition camps but also within the government and ruling coalition.
Prime Minister Takaichi appeared at an awards ceremony in Tokyo on Tuesday for the Japan Jewelry Best Dresser Awards, where she received a special prize and wore gold-colored pearls on her chest and ears. "I will work hard so that many people in Japan will feel, like the sparkle of this jewelry, that Japan’s future is bright," she said.
The atmosphere in the Diet was far less festive. In a committee discussing the bill to reduce the number of lawmakers, deliberation time was simply allowed to run while opposition members stayed away. The time allocated for questioning by the Centrist Reform Coalition and independents ended without any questions being asked. In all, about 1 hour and 40 minutes of questioning time for opposition parties passed with no substantive proceedings.
A similar scene unfolded in a committee examining the secondary capital bill. With opposition members absent, the chair proceeded with the agenda, and the session continued for about two hours without meaningful debate.
The opposition parties refused to attend because they said the ruling bloc had forced the start of deliberations on both the seat reduction bill and the secondary capital bill. Five opposition parties, including the Centrist Reform Coalition, asked Lower House Speaker Mori and others to suspend debate on the bills.
The opposition argues that it is the government and ruling parties, not the opposition, that have effectively been refusing to engage in deliberation. They say the turmoil began with Takaichi’s handling of allegations over a defamatory video involving her, after she indicated she wanted to submit a written statement from her secretary to the Diet in place of a direct answer. Opposition parties say that amounted to a refusal to respond.
They have also criticized Takaichi for spending less time answering questions than previous prime ministers, and are calling for her to attend intensive Budget Committee deliberations and for a party leaders’ debate to be held. "We are not asking for anything extremely difficult," one opposition lawmaker said. "Previous administrations have done this."
The disruption also spread to a plenary session of the House of Representatives. When a bill to punish damage to the national flag was put to a vote, even the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, which had jointly submitted the bill with the ruling bloc, stayed away along with other opposition parties.
Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said the ruling side should quickly restore an environment in which his party would not have to be absent and calm discussions with the government could resume.
Takaichi, responding to opposition demands that she attend intensive deliberations, said she had appeared and answered sincerely whenever the Diet had requested her attendance. "There will be no change in that policy going forward," she said.
Some lawmakers within Takaichi’s own Liberal Democratic Party have criticized her approach as provocative, with one saying the situation would not have reached this point if she had responded properly.
In an effort to break the deadlock, Mori met senior ruling party officials at the Diet on Wednesday. He urged both sides to give top priority to passing a bill to revise the Imperial House Law, and also called on the ruling parties to make efforts toward holding the intensive deliberations and party leaders’ debate sought by the opposition.
But Mori’s intervention drew concern because it appeared to place the Imperial House Law revision ahead of the seat reduction bill and secondary capital bill, both of which are key policies for Nippon Ishin no Kai. Some lawmakers questioned whether it was appropriate for the speaker to use his influence to determine the order and timing of deliberations.
The opposition said debate on reducing the number of lawmakers and other bills central to the government’s agenda should be handled calmly through formal talks between ruling and opposition parties. As a precondition, they said Takaichi should attend both the Budget Committee and a party leaders’ debate.
The turmoil has brought disagreements inside the government and ruling camp into the open. In the House of Councillors, where the ruling bloc lacks the ability to force bills through by numbers alone, LDP Secretary-General Ishii has urged the government to accept the opposition’s request for intensive Budget Committee deliberations with Takaichi in attendance and a party leaders’ debate.
In the House of Representatives, meanwhile, Secretary-General Suzuki met opposition parties and confirmed that debate on the Imperial House Law revision would be prioritized. Deliberations on the seat reduction and secondary capital bills are to be suspended during that period.
That has alarmed Nippon Ishin, which made the two bills a condition of joining the ruling coalition. Yoshimura, the party’s leader, has said the coalition must pass all three bills, including the Imperial House Law revision, during the current Diet session. The ruling parties are now making arrangements to exchange a memorandum that would guarantee action on the legislation.
Takaichi is scheduled to attend a settlement committee session on Thursday, where attention will focus on how she answers questions.
The confrontation has revealed more than a simple clash between ruling and opposition parties. Differences are also emerging between the LDP and Nippon Ishin, as well as between the prime minister’s office and senior figures in the LDP, raising questions over whether the Diet can return to normal quickly enough to deal with legislation that affects voters more directly.
Some political observers criticized the spectacle of committees continuing with empty seats, saying taxpayer money was being spent while lawmakers failed to debate key bills. Others said the underlying problem was Takaichi’s reluctance to confront allegations over the defamatory video and related issues directly, including a separate matter involving cryptocurrency.
Critics also questioned whether the ruling bloc was giving too much weight to its coalition agreement with Nippon Ishin and trying to rush legislation through too forcefully. They argued that the government should focus on measures that are more urgent for the public, rather than prioritizing bills seen as central to coalition management.
The debate over cutting the number of lawmakers has also raised broader questions about Japan’s representative democracy. Japan currently has 713 national lawmakers, and proposals to reduce that number by around 40 or 50 have triggered sharp conflict. Some critics argue that in a country facing a population decline of roughly 30 percent, a much larger reduction in the number of representatives should be discussed.
For now, however, the immediate issue is whether the ruling parties can restore trust in the Diet process. With committees stalled, opposition parties absent and coalition partners pressing competing priorities, the government and ruling bloc are under pressure to respond carefully if they hope to bring the Diet back to normal.
Source: TBS
