Dominant Power Shown in Diet Discussion

The Committee on Budget in the House of Representatives finished three-day basic questionings to the prime minister on March 3rd. While the debate has always been a highlight of ordinary session of the Diet every year, it seemed this time to be overwhelmed by supermajority power of Sanae Takaichi administration. Weak standpoint of the opposition parties can downgrade the status of the Diet which is designated as “the highest organ of State power” in the constitution. 

It was obvious that the top opposition party, Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA), took softer position against the government than it had been before February Lower House election. The leader of CRA, Jun-ya Ogawa, asked more about saving enough time for discussion on FY2026 budget bill than Takaichi’s reported scandal about distributing gift to her colleagues.

 

Ogawa attributed delay of discussion on the budget bill to Takaichi’s decision to have a snap election in February. Takaichi plainly asked cooperation of opposition parties for quick discussion. Receiving request of accelerated procedure, the chairman of budget committee, Tetsushi Sakamoto with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), unilaterally decided to have discussion of respective issues related to ministries between March 4th and 6th.

 

The committee also set a local hearing on March 8th and a hearing in the capital on March 10th with majority approval of the LDP. Those hearings are usually set at the end of discussion over annual budget bill. It is an ordinary pattern that the bill passes the committee with one-day final questionings after the hearings. The LDP is going to omit intensive questionings, which is ordinarily held for three days, despite many issues to discuss, including war in Iran and its impact on Japanese economy.

 

It is likely that Sakamoto will set the final debate on March 11th or 12th and the budget bill passes the committee and Plenary Sittings by March 13, on which Takaichi hoped to send the bill to the Upper House. The opposition parties, that has majority in the Upper House, pressure Takaichi not to push early passage without sufficient discussion. However, the chair of Upper House budget committee is occupied by the LDP, enabling acceleration of debate on the budget.

 

Debate over Takaichi’s handlings of politics was not much exciting. Takaichi admitted that she had five interviews of Sekai Nippo, a newspaper with relation to Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (former Unification Church). She also explained her gift for LDP winners in Lower House election not to be illegal and would no longer do that, if it were inappropriate.

 

The opposition parties could not push Takaichi to the corner. The chairwoman of Japan Communist Party, Tomoko Tamura, criticized Takaichi of her decision to support the United States’ attack on Iran as violation of international law. But, Takaichi avoided her interpretation on international laws. Sakamoto helped Takaichi by letting other ministers to answer the question, instead of the prime minister.

 

That is how supermajority power is exercised in discussion of the Diet. It is growingly possible for FY2026 budget will pass the Diet by the end of March as Takaichi earnestly hoped to justify her decision of a snap election.

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