Japan Press Weekly

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2026 June 24 - 30 TOP3 [POLITICS]

LDP-‘Ishin’ coalition forcibly begins Diet deliberations on bill to reduce number of Lower House seats

In the absence of opposition lawmakers, the ruling coalition, comprising the Liberal Democratic Party and the “Nippon Ishin no Kai” party, on June 29 forced the start of Diet deliberations on a bill to reduce the number of proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives.

All opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, stated that they will absolutely not accept the bill.

JCP Secretariat Head Koike Akira held a press conference in the Diet building and harshly criticized this aggressive move, stating that reducing the number of Diet seats would destroy the foundation of parliamentary democracy and pave the way for authoritarian rule.

Koike pointed out that under the bill, based on this year’s general election vote totals, the LDP and the “Ishin” alone would end up holding 82% of the seats.

He said, “If the proposed reduction is approved, the ruling parties will abuse their numerical superiority even more blatantly, creating a situation amounting to authoritarian rule. The negative effects of the single-seat constituency system, which produces a large number of wasted votes, will be exacerbated, undermining the basis of parliamentary democracy.” He expressed the determination of all opposition parties to unite in opposing this bill.

At Lower House hearings, none of the seven experts supported reducing the number of seats. At the Upper House hearing on June 29, just before the start of deliberations was forced through, both experts expressed their opposition.

The ten opposition parties alongside the JCP are the Centrist Reform Alliance, the Democratic Party for the People, the “Sanseito”, the “Team Mirai”, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the “Komeito”, the “Reiwa Shinsengumi”, the Social Democratic Party, the Okinawa Whirlwind, and the Conservative Party of Japan.

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