PM calls for cuts in Diet seats before year ends

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

PM calls for cuts in Diet seats before year ends

Prime Minister Kan Naoto in the House of Representatives Budget Committee on August 2 said that discussion on a cut in the number of parliamentary seats should go ahead to achieve a result within this year. This reply to Democratic Party of Japan Dietmember Banno Yutaka indicates a more determined stance than his previous position of just seeking agreement between the ruling and opposition parties in 2010.

The plan to cut the number of Diet seats is allegedly a part of efforts to rehabilitate national finances. The DPJ manifesto for the House of Councilors election states that Lower House seats in proportional representation constituencies should be cut by 80 while about 40 Upper House seats should also be cut. In a trial calculation by applying this formula to the 2009 general election results, the DPJ with 42 percent of the vote in proportional representation constituencies would get nearly 69 percent of the Lower House seats, which means that the DPJ as a single party would have two-thirds of the seats.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a press conference on August 2 referred to this question. He said, “The proportional representation component to our electoral system is the only one that can correctly reflect the people’s will in the present system governing national elections.” Ichida warned that the DPJ plan has the danger of bringing about a one-party despotic government of the DPJ.

Ichida said that not only the JCP but also the Komei and the Social Democratic parties, as well as the Your Party representative Watanabe Yoshimi, are expressing opposition to cutting the number of proportional representation seats. Also referring to Liberal Democratic Party member Ishihara Nobuteru’s latest remark in opposition to the cut, Ichida said “The JCP will try its best to obstruct the plan by joining in efforts with parties opposing the plan to reduce proportional representation seats.

House of Councilors President Nishioka Takeo held an urgent news conference in the Diet building on August 2, and criticized the prime minister’s statement urging a cut in the number of parliamentary seats as the “most inappropriate remark from the head of the executive branch of government.” He said, “The House of Councilors is not taking instructions from the prime minister.” It is extraordinary for the president of the House to hold a news conference and criticizes a prime minister.

-Akahata, August 3, 2010