"Hung Diet" Overwhelms Lower House Legislative Bureau

Tokyo, May 8 (Jiji Press)--The Legislative Bureau of Japan's House of Representatives has been in overdrive lately, as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba leads a minority government, leading to more work on arrangements for the debate and amendment of bills submitted by his administration.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, lost their combined majority in last year's election for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, resulting in an increase in negotiations with opposition parties on legislation, with the bureau playing a behind-the-scenes role.

With a House of Councillors election set for this summer, political parties are pushing their own policies, causing fatigue at the bureau, which also advises lawmakers on legal issues.

Unlike the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, which examines government-sponsored bills and interprets laws and regulations on behalf of the government, the Lower House's Legislative Bureau is placed under the speaker of the chamber and is mainly tasked with assisting Lower House lawmakers in drafting bills and supporting deliberations on them.

About 70 of the 88 members of the bureau are involved in such work.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]