Diet Elects Ishiba Again

The 215th Diet was convoked on November 11. It elected Shigeru Ishiba, President of the Liberal Democratic Party, as 103th Prime Minister of Japan without simple majority in the House of Representatives. Ishiba immediately launched his new cabinet. As the consequence of apparent defeat in general election of the House in October, Ishiba and the LDP faces difficulty in promoting their policies through a hung parliament. 

All the ministers of Ishiba Cabinet resigned in the morning of October 11. Each House of the Diet had an election for nominating the prime minister in the afternoon. The House of Councillors elected Ishiba with simple majority.

 

In the House of Representatives, no candidate obtained simple majority. Ishiba was elected in the run-off held for the first time in these thirty years, which became one-on-one match with the leader of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), Yoshihiko Noda. The score of the run-off was 221 for Ishiba to 160 for Noda. 85 invalid votes are supposed to include the votes of lawmakers with Democratic Party for the People (DPP) and Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai) for their leaders.

 

After Ishiba was elected as the prime minister again in the afternoon, he formed his new cabinet in the evening. Minister of Justice and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries were replaced, because those two ministers had lost their seats in the general election of the House of Representatives. Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Trade and Tourism, Tetsuo Saito, resigned as he assumed the chief representative of Komeito. Other ministers stayed in their positions in the previous cabinet.

 

It is undeniable that new Ishiba Cabinet will face a difficult situation to implement their policies. The leading coalition of the LDP and Komeito reduced their seats from 290 to 221, less than a half of all the 465 seats. The opposition parties occupied over the half.

 

However, the opposition parties failed in being united to elect one candidate in the election for nominating new prime minister. If all the opposition lawmakers and some independents had voted for Noda, Noda had a chance to make a prime minister. However, DPP and Ishin refused to vote for him even before the election, because of difference in basic policies from the CDPJ. They knew their behavior would benefit Ishiba and the LDP.

 

The structure of the standing committees will work against Ishiba and the LDP. The leading coalition had occupied 15 chairs out of all 17 standing committees before the general election. But those seats were reduced to 10 now.

 

The CDPJ gained the chair of Committee on Budget in which any kind of issue is discussed, including scandals on management of political funds. The chairman has power to set agenda, to order the prime minister to clearly answer to questions of the opposition committee members or to finish the discussion and take votes.

 

Previous cabinets without simple majority in one of the two Houses was forced hard slog to achieve consent from the opposition parties. Ishiba Cabinet will be tested in handling of the Diet affairs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment of Local Autonomy Law

The House of Representatives started discussion on revision of the Local Autonomy Law, which would vest the national government a power to instruct local government in an emergency. It may change the relationship between the national and local government, which has been recognized as equal. The opposition parties oppose the amendment, arguing that it would give the national government an excessive power.   With the Meiji Restoration, the national government abolished the feudal system, introducing modern governance. However, its autonomy was not sufficient. The governor of each prefecture was appointed by the national government. The local governments subordinated to the national government. It was as late as 2000 when  the Comprehensive Decentralization Law  was enacted and the relationship between the national and local government was defined as equal.   The national government found inconvenience in the relationship between the national and local government, when ...
Read more

Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government.   Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant, 　 or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.   Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, ...
Read more

Not A Royal Wedding

The bride called her husband an indispensable existence and their marriage was necessary choice to protect their mind. The groom insisted on his life as only once and his right to be with his loved one. Her father wanted his daughter’s marriage to be celebrated by the people. The people were not sure whether the family was happy as a whole. Is this the traditional Japanese social system that makes no one happy? Mako Komuro, as known as Princess Mako during her life in one of the royal family Akishino, held on Tuesday a press conference with her husband Kei Komuro, right after submitting marriage report to local government. It was something different from ordinary Q&A session, because Mako was afraid of her mental uneasiness brought by some questions not based on truth. So, the event was actually one-sided speech to the reporters. Mako emphasized that the Kei’s decision of studying abroad five years ago had not been his original idea, but a result of her request to establish an over...
Read more