Discussion over Constitution Diffuses

Commission on the Constitution of the House of Representatives discussed on May 8th what prime minister’s “right of dissolution” is. It has been a longtime consensus that the prime minister possesses power to dissolve the House of Representatives, according to Article 7 or 69 of the Constitution, some opposition parties questioned discretional exercise of the “right”. The discussion over constitutional amendment is diffusing, since the leading coalition by Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lost their majority in the election last October. 

Based on Article 7, which stipulates Cabinet’s advice and approval to the Emperor, former prime ministers dissolved the House of Representatives before term of the lawmakers was not expired. For instance, Shinzo Abe dissolved the house in 2017, raising low birth rate and launching missiles by North Korea as national crises. It was the time when Abe was in trouble with scandal of Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Gakuen. The opposition parties denied them as causes for dissolution, doubting the decision as political maneuver.

 

In the discussion of the council, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) argued that dissolution of Abe in 2014 and 2017 was maneuvers and revealed that CDPJ was preparing for a bill that would demand the prime minister to report the House the date of dissolution and its reason in advance. Although the LDP protested that idea, pro-amendment Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin-no Kai) and Democratic Party for the People (DPP) supported the idea of CDPJ.

 

Division among the parties that uphold constitutional amendment emerged on another point. Article 53 determines that Cabinet must convoke extraordinary session of the Diet with a quarter of members’ requirement in one of the two houses. But, Abe or his successor Yoshihide Suga did not meet the request of convocation. CDPJ proposed in the council to include a provision in the Constitution that Cabinet must convoke the Diet within 20 days. While LDP and Komeito opposed to the idea, DPP and Ishin sided with CDPJ.

 

Under the leadership of Abe, the discussion over constitutional amendment was focused on some points, including writing “self-defense force” down in the Constitution or adding emergency clause in case the Lower House is empty after dissolution or the term of the members is expiredaa. Although, Suga and Fumio Kishida succeeded that discussion, it was possible only in a situation that the leading parties had majority in the House.

 

After last October, the chairperson of the council was replaced by Yukio Edano, former head of the CDPJ. The discussion for amendment was diffused rather than converged. The talking points in current ordinary session expanded from regulation of commercial message in referendum for constitutional amendment to necessity for regulation on fake information in the referendum. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had no clear vision for the amendment, even though he is willing to promote constitutional discussion to take care of the conservatives in LDP.

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

Death Penalty Demanded on Criminal of Arson

On the historically brutal case of arson, the public prosecutors demanded an ultimate penalty to the offender. In the trial on the arson and murder in Kyoto Animation in 2019, the prosecutors requested death penalty on the defendant, Shinji Aoba. The lawyers of Aoba argued that the court should avoid sentencing death penalty. The judgement will be passed next January. Aoba was indicted as putting fire after pouring gasoline in the building of Kyoto Animation (Kyoani), a studio producing animation works, and killed 36 staffs and injured 32 on July 18 th , 2019. In the trial, Aoba argued that he could not tolerate Kyoani, because it had stolen his novel story in its works. Aoba later apologized to the victim’s families that he had done too much and regretted it.   In the closing argument in Kyoto Regional Court, the prosecutors demanded death penalty for Aoba, because the number of victims were extremely high in the history of criminal trials in Japan. “It is hard to describe about h...
Read more