GaaSyy Kicked Out of Diet in 1st Expulsion in 72 Years

Tokyo, March 15 (Jiji Press)--The House of Councillors on Wednesday voted to expel lawmaker GaaSyy after the member of the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, failed to attend any Diet sessions and refused to apologize for his continued absence.

The expulsion, the severest penalty for a lawmaker under the Diet law, was approved at the day's plenary meeting of the chamber.

Upper House President Hidehisa Otsuji declared GaaSyy's expulsion, making him the third expelled Diet member and the first in 72 years. It is the first time that the Diet has expelled a lawmaker for not showing up to work.

GaaSyy, whose real name is Yoshikazu Higashitani, had been ordered by the Upper House to apologize at an open Diet meeting as a penalty for his failure to attend even a single session since he won a parliamentary seat for the first time in the Upper House election in July 2022. But he refused to follow the order.

In the voting, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Komeito, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), the Democratic Party for the People and the Japanese Communist Party voted in favor of the expulsion.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]