Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 19 - 25 [POLITICS]

4 opposition parties agree to force Agriculture Minister to resign

Diet affairs chiefs of four opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, on October 20 held talks in the Diet building and agreed to demand the resignation of Agriculture Minister Yamamoto Yuzi who made a remark hinting at a forcible passage of bills to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact.

After the talks, asked by reporters about how to engage in TPP discussions in the House of Representatives Special Committee, JCP Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji said, “As a precondition, it is necessary for the ruling block to guarantee that they refrain from bulldozing through the TPP ratification bill. The JCP and the Democratic Party will insist on having thorough discussions in the Diet in addition to public and parliamentary hearings on the TPP-related bills.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties expressed their intent to defend Yamamoto.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide at a press conference said, “There is no need for the agriculture minister to step down from his position,” expressing his refusal of the opposition block’s demand.

Komei leader Yamaguchi Natsuo in the party’s board meeting criticized Yamamoto’s remark for hampering the proceeding of the Lower House special committee and said that it is up to Yamamoto to decide if he resigns or not.