Ruling coalition proposes rules for Diet council to examine draft constitution

Japan Press Weekly

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Ruling coalition proposes rules for Diet council to examine draft constitution

The ruling parties on April 23 submitted to the House of Councilors draft rules for the Deliberative Council on the Constitution, a body established in both houses of the Diet to examine constitutional drafts.

It is the first time that such rules were proposed for the Council which was established in accordance with the National Referendum Law, a law enacted in May 2007 to establish procedures for revising the Constitution.

Approval of the draft rules will inevitably accelerate the move to draft a new constitution.

Under the proposed rules, the deliberative council will consist of 50 members and will require more than half of attendants' approval for the council to take decisions, and will be required to hold public hearing while examining draft constitutions.

A Liberal Democratic Party member claimed that the Diet failure to reopen discussions on constitutional revision cannot be ignored any longer. A representative of the Komei Party said, "The National Referendum Law will come into force next year. This situation must be corrected by this year's Constitution Day (May 3)."

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Sasaki Kensho pointed out that right after the Abe Cabinet railroaded through the national referendum bill in May 2007, it suffered a devastating defeat in the House of Councilors election due to voters' rejection of the move toward constitutional revision.

The majority of citizens do not want the Constitution to be revised now, thus there is no need to set procedures for its revision, Sasaki stressed.

- Akahata, April 24, 2009