Post-election Diet session ends without prime minister's policy speech

The 158th special Diet session ended on November 27 without the prime minister's policy speech and sufficient discussions on a number of urgent issues.

Later in the day, the opposition Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party of Japan, and the Social Democratic Party together demanded an extraordinary Diet session within the year.

The recent Diet session lasted only nine days with brief budget committee discussions in both houses, and ended up shelving a number of issues that needed to be considered. The three opposition parties are insisting that an extraordinary Diet session should be held to discuss the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq, the bill to adversely revise the pension system, suspicions of corruption in the public road administration, and the mad cow disease issue.

Article 53 of the Constitution stipulates that if a quarter of the Dietmembers in either house approves, the Cabinet must convene an extraordinary Diet. The three opposition parties have 194 out of 480 seats, and 95 out of 247 seats in the Upper House. (end)