Japan Opposition DPFP Drafts Proposal to Cut Lower House Seats by 19

Tokyo, Oct. 26 (Jiji Press)--The opposition Democratic Party for the People on Monday drew up its own proposal to reduce by 19 the number of seats allocated through the proportional representation system of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.

The party accepted the idea of reducing proportional representation seats while withholding judgment on a compromise proposal by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to cut them by 31. Coordination efforts between the ruling and opposition parties are expected to continue.

The DPFP's proposed reduction was based on population decline rates calculated from the 2015 and 2025 national censuses. "We reluctantly accept cuts limited to the proportional representation system," Motohisa Furukawa, acting leader of the DPFP, told reporters.

Meanwhile, Hirofumi Yoshimura, governor of Osaka Prefecture and leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the coalition partner of the ruling LDP, said at a government-ruling coalition liaison meeting, "We should stick to the coalition agreement to cut seats by 45, or 10 pct." He also told reporters, "We want to draw a conclusion (on the LDP compromise proposal) while also considering opinions from opposition parties."

At a meeting of the JIP's political reform headquarters, participants called one after another for the passage of the ruling coalition's bill incorporating a 45-seat reduction. The party did not decide to support or oppose the LDP's latest proposal, and left the decision to its executive board, including Fumitake Fujita, party co-leader.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]