Unilateral Procedure of the Diet

The Diet is now run only by the leading parties. The opposition parties do not participate in the voting on highly controversial bills. The bill of National Flag Vandalism Punishing Act passed the Lower House with majority votes of the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party, while the opposition parties abstained the plenary sittings. The leading parties also unilaterally began discussion of reducing the seats of Lower House and the bill for Backup Capital without consensus with the oppositions. This is not something called a democracy. 

Discussion over the bill for punishing damaging the national flag started in Committee on Cabinet of the Lower House on June 24th. The bill was also sponsored by Democratic Party for the People (DPP) and Sanseito. The Sponsors answered questions of the opposition parties in the meeting on June 25th and the committee had a hearing from experts on June 26th.

 

Discussion on the bill was finished then. The bill passed the committee with approval by the LDP and JIP. Both parties had a super majority in the Lower House. After passing the committee, the bill went to a plenary sittings of the House on June 30th. The DPP and Sanseito abstained the voting of plenary sittings. The bill passed the Lower house in less than a week.

 

The bill went to the Upper House, in which the leading parties do not have a majority. It is unclear whether the bill passes the Upper House. Although the DPP, Sanseito and Team Mirai voted yes to the bill in the Lower House committee, the opposition parties are united to refuse any negotiation over Diet procedure, dissatisfied with Takaichi’s refusal of discussion over defamation scandal of her LDP presidential election campaign last October. The leading parties unilaterally pushed the voting, using majority’s authority in Diet procedure, without any assured hope of passing the bill in the Upper House.

 

Coercive management of the Diet schedule by the leading parties is seen on other bills. With empty seats of opposition lawmakers, they started discussion on the bill for cutting seats of the Lower House by ten percent, or forty five, and another bill for creating backup capital. Both bills were submitted to the Diet with a strong request of JIP. The JIP firmly believes that reduction of Lower House seats will accept broad public support. The party also hopes to take advantage of backup capital bill to make Osaka a “capital” of Japan. The leading coalition has power to pass those bills in the Lower House.

 

Compared to autocracy, democracy takes time to decide. But it is likelier for democracy than other forms of government to draw a right decision. That is why Japanese democracy has been restrictive to exercise excessive power to make a decision by majority. That is the lesson of the World War II in which Japan started war against the United States without careful and deliberate analysis for winning the war. Current procedure in the Diet can remind of the time when no one could not stop reckless handlings of politics by a few leaders.

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