Takaichi Caught in Defamation Scandal

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is still caught in her own scandal of slandering her contenders in presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last October. Takaichi changed her understandings on the details of relationship with her secretary and a creator of video footages, and she refused her answer in the Diet when she faced questions of the opposition parties. The opposition powers accuse Takaichi’s attitude as ignoring prime minister’s responsibility. 

Weekly Bunshun magazine reported in April that Takaichi launched a negative campaign against Shinjiro Koizumi and Yoshimasa Hayashi in LDP presidential election by posting video on social networking services. Takaichi dismissed the report, arguing that she had never defamed other campaign with posting massages with video in the SNS.

 

But she has not given sufficient evidence that her campaign had nothing to do with the scandal. Bunshun reported that Takaichi’s secretary had consulted with an SNS strategist about defamation. While Takaichi once told that she and her secretary did not know about the strategist, she corrected her words to “I have not met with him.” After listening to recorded conversation of her secretary and the strategist, Takaichi avoided to identify the voice as that of her secretary.

 

Having been annoyed with consecutive questions from the opposition lawmakers in the Diet, Takaichi tried to refuse further discussion in the Diet Committee. In the Budget Committee of House of Representatives on Monday June 22nd, Takaichi proposed replacing her further answers to the question with a statement written by her secretary. “I cannot save my time for working as the prime minister. I have taken mostly no sleep from Friday evening to this morning,” complained Takaichi.

 

It is highly unusual for the prime minister to refuse discussion in the Diet. Article 66 of the Constitution of Japan providesthat the Cabinet, headed by the prime minister, is collectively responsible to the Diet, which is interpreted as obligation of the prime minister to answer any question of lawmakers. Former prime ministers of Japan thus made utmost efforts to remove any skepticism on the cabinet through discussions in the Diet. Takaichi effectively indicated that she had no intention to fulfill that obligation of the prime minister.

 

The opposition lawmaker who made questions on this issue, Yuichi Goto, recognized Takaichi’s comment as refusal of discussion in the Diet. Five major opposition parties agreed on refusing discussion over schedule of any Diet discussion for the rest of the term of current session closing on July 17th. As the leading coalition by the LDP and Japan Innovation Party does not have majority in the Upper House, it became uncertain that all the bills sponsored by the leading parties will pass the Diet in this session.

 

This is an ordinary task for the opposition parties to take schedule of Diet discussion into custody when negotiation with the ruling power is deadlocked. Takaichi does not seem to fully understand this traditional relationship between both sides of the aisle.

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