June 13, 2019

Five opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, on June 12 made representations to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party against the Prime Minister Abe-led government actions paralyzing Budget Committees in both Houses of the Diet, pushing the LDP to agree to hold Budget Committee meetings.

In the representations, the Diet affairs committee heads of the five opposition parties censured the avoidance of Budget Committee discussions by the Abe administration and the ruling party as neglecting their duty to explain their policies before the public.

The opposition forces made a request that both chambers’ Budget Committee meetings be called without delay to discuss a mountain of issues that need to be tackled in both domestic politics and foreign policy and that a face-to-face debate between PM Abe and political parties should be held following budget committee discussions. Furthermore, the opposition parties demanded that in order to achieve this, a meeting of Diet Affairs committee chairpersons of the ruling and opposition parties be arranged immediately.

At a press conference after the representations, JCP Diet Affairs Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji said, “The Diet, which is designated in the Constitution as the highest organ of state power, should respond to the popular mandate to convene Budget Committee sessions in both chambers and to require the Abe government to answer questions regarding its policies with the presentation of relevant materials to the committees.”

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