Ruling Party Leaders Agree to Aim to Pass Lower House Seat Cut Bill

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)--The leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its ally, the Japan Innovation Party, agreed Tuesday to aim to pass a bill to reduce the number of seats in the House of Representatives by 10 pct during the ongoing Diet session.

At their meeting on the day, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, also president of the LDP, and JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura also agreed to enact bills during the session to establish a secondary capital for Japan and to criminalize the act of damaging the Japanese flag.

Regarding the envisioned cut in the number of Lower House seats, the ruling parties submitted a bill during last year's extraordinary Diet session to automatically reduce 25 constituency seats and 20 proportional representation seats if the ruling and opposition camps failed to reach a consensus on the matter within a year.

However, this bill was scrapped when the Lower House was dissolved in January for a general election.

After the election, the JIP proposed reducing only proportional representation seats, but many in the LDP are cautious.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]