Extraordinary Diet session opens for only 8 days

Following the House of Councilors election, the 160th Extraordinary Session of the Diet was convened on July 30 for eight days.

The opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, had demanded that the session be held for at least one month so that the Diet may deal with various mounting issues, but in both houses the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties used their majority to make the session much shorter.

There are a number of issues that need to be dealt with seriously by the Diet, including the pension system which was adversely revised in the previous session, the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces to the multinational force in Iraq, and the corruption scandal related to the Japan Dental Association.

The three opposition parties, the JCP, Democratic and Democratic Social parties, jointly demanded that the Diet deal with these urgent issues.

JCP Chair Shii Kazuo on the same day told the press that the JCP will support the DPJ bill calling for the abolition of the revised pension law. However, the JCP disagrees with the part of the DPJ bill that refers to the LDP-Komei-DPJ agreement calling for the introduction of the consumption tax as pension funds, Shii said.

The JCP and DSP jointly requested the Upper House Steering Committee chair that the house ensure their representatives' questionings at each of the plenary sessions. Minor parties with less than ten seats in the Upper House are allowed to make questionings only at the plenary sessions concerning the prime minister's policy speech and the voting on the budget. (end)