Japan Press Weekly

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2008 June 11 - 17 [POLITICS]

JCP criticizes extension of Diet session

The House of Representatives on June 13 approved a proposal for extending for six days the current Diet session which was to end June 15. The Japanese Communist Party voted against it.

The Democratic, Social Democratic, and People’s New parties were absent from the session.

At the House of Representatives Steering Committee meeting held prior to the plenary session, Sasaki Kensho spoke on behalf of the JCP and criticized the LDP for claiming that the Diet session needs to be extended in order for six treaties pending in the House of Councilors to be automatically approved. “It is inappropriate to extend the Diet session for the purpose of ensuring automatic ratification of treaties without having discussions,” he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo’s request for approval of the Economic Partnership Agreement with ASEAN, Sasaki stressed, “If the government says ratification of the treaties is important, the ruling parties should make an effort to have them discussed fully in the Diet.”

Sasaki criticized the ruling parties for frequently using their force of majority in the House of Representatives in order to ram through bills. “The Diet should never be allowed to forego discussion or neglect to pursue a public consensus through a thorough discussion,” he added. - Akahata, June 14, 2008