Seat Reduction Bill Goes to the Diet

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP) submitted a bill for reducing seats in the House of Representatives to the Diet on December 5th. The bill includes certain number of reductions in single-seat districts and proportional district with a clause of “automatic reduction” within a year. The opposition parties oppose the bill, criticizing it as very coercive. It is not sure that the bill will pass the Diet by the end of current session ending on December 17th. 

JIP has insisted on 10 percent reduction in the House that has 465 seats in total. While the party proposed that the reduction should be made only in proportional district with 176 seats, the idea faced firm opposition from opposition parties. Then, the LDP and JIP agreed on reducing 25 seats in single-seat districts out of 289 seats, and 20 seats in proportional district. Those reductions were included in the bill.

 

The most controversial part of the bill is a provision that those 45 seats reduction is set to be activated one year later, if the parties cannot conclude the seat reduction. JIP believes that the 10 percent reduction is achievable, if the leading coalition votes yes to the bill. While the leading coalition has a simple majority in the Lower House, it does not in the Upper House. The bill needs majority of both chambers to be enacted. So, JIP reached Sanseito, which has 15 seats in the Upper House, to fulfill the majority, but Sanseito has not said yes so far.

 

The opposition parties are fundamentally against the bill. The bill was submitted to the Diet without any consultation with the opposition parties. It has been usual in the Diet that a decision on seats reduction needs broad consensus beyond the border of the leading and opposition parties. Some lawmakers are skeptical about necessity of seat reduction itself right now, and others argue that it is needed to discuss in the context of overall reform of election system, including replacement of single-seat district with multi-seat districts. Nevertheless, the bill mandates the House to reduce the bill within a year, even if the parties will not reach a deal.

 

There is a frustration with the hard push by JIP even in the LDP. Upholding the policy as the most important issue for them, JIP threatened the LDP that it might leave the leading coalition, if the seat reduction is not implemented. However, the LDP regard this issue as something that requires certain consensus from the opposition powers. Election reform has traditionally been discussed in a committee respectively set under the Speakers of both Houses.

 

The committee for election reform is led by the chairman with the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the biggest opposition party. Procedure of the bill is overwhelmingly controlled by the chairman. It is skeptical that the bill will be discussed by the end of the session. If the bill is not discussed in this session, it will possibly be discarded.

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