Japan Press Weekly

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2026 June 24 - 30 [POLITICS]

Opposition bloc calls for bill to cut number of Lower House seats not to be tabled

Five opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, on June 25 demanded that the speaker of the House of Representatives and the chairperson of the House of Representatives Steering Committee not allow deliberations to begin on the bill to reduce the number of Lower House seats.

Reforms to the Lower House electoral system, including the number of seats, are currently under discussion within the Electoral System Council which was established under the leadership of the speaker of the House and comprises representatives from all parliamentary groups in the House.

However, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party submitted the bill to the Diet the previous day. Under the bill, if the council fails to reach a conclusion on the final number of Lower House seats within one year, the number of proportional representation seats will automatically be cut by 45.

JCP Diet Policy Commission Chair Shiokawa Tetsuya, stated, “Slashing the number of Diet seats is tantamount to disregarding diverse public demands. Forcing through a reduction in the number of seats by the ruling parties alone is tantamount to the destruction of democracy.”

He pointed out that the council has only just begun full-scale discussions on electoral system reforms, and that none of the experts at the council’s hearings endorsed a reduction in the number of seats. He asserted, “It is absolutely unacceptable to put a constraint on the council’s discussions.”

The JCP, the Centrist Reform Alliance, the Democratic Party for the People, the “Sanseito” party, and the “Team Mirai” party have confirmed that they will unanimously oppose the bill.

Past related article:
> LDP will submit bill to cut number of Lower House seats by 10% [June 12, 2026]