Japan LDP Wants to Prioritize Imperial Family Bill

Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party wants to prioritize the proposed revision of the Imperial House Law in parliamentary debates, Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki said Thursday in an effort to normalize parliamentary affairs.

The LDP is ready to accept a halt to debates on bills to reduce seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, and establish a second Japanese capital, while the discussions on the revision are underway, Suzuki said at a meeting of the secretaries-general and Diet affairs heads of the LDP and the opposition Centrist Reform Alliance.

The two parties will continue discussing the issue between their Diet affairs leaders.

At Thursday's meeting, the CRA's Takeshi Shina showed concern that a calm environment, considered a prerequisite for Diet debates on the Imperial House Law revision, cannot be secured as long as the ruling camp keeps trying to enact other bills, including the one on the Lower House seat cut. Suzuki did not respond to this remark.

According to Shina, Suzuki said that the LDP will make efforts as a ruling party to meet opposition requests for intensive deliberations at the budget committees of both Diet chambers and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's direct debates with other party leaders.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]