Japan Press Weekly

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2009 May 20 - 26 [POLITICS]

LDP and DPJ call for cut in proportional representation seats

In their platform for the upcoming House of Representatives general election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party will propose cutting the number of Diet seats for the proportional representation segments in both houses.

Prime Minister Aso Taro stated, “The Diet must be ready to sacrifice the number of seats.”

Recently elected DPJ President Hatoyama Yukio underlined the need to “eliminate the wasteful use of tax money.”

In the recent DPJ election to pick its president, two candidates, Hatoyama and Okada Katsuya, called for the House of Representatives proportional representation seats to be reduced from 180 to 100 and for the 300 seats in single-seat constituencies to be maintained.

The LDP at its panel on party reform will arrive at a conclusion regarding this issue by the end of May. Many LDP members demand that a total number of Diet seats be 400 or fewer. They also call for the number of House of Representatives seats to be kept at 300 or fewer and for the proportional representation blocs to be abolished. LDP representative Ota Seiichi stated this in his blog.

Election system continuously revised

Dietmembers connect with the Diet and citizens. A drastic cut in the number of Diet seats will make it difficult for the Diet to listen to the public. With the election system revised several times since the 1990s, the number of Diet seats has been reduced.

It is indeed grave that both the LDP and DPJ are trying to reduce proportional representation seats.

The single-seat constituency system primarily benefits large political parties. The proportional representation system most accurately reflects public opinion in the current election system.

Since the 2003 general election, the DPJ has called for an 80-seat cut in the number of proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives, claiming that a greater emphasis should be put on single-seat constituencies in order to realize a change in governing party. In 2003, then DPJ President Kan Naoto said that it is possible that all members of the House of Representatives will be elected in single-seat constituencies in the future, sharing the same idea with the LDP.

Abolish government subsidies to political parties

If the LDP and DPJ really want a reduction of wasteful use of tax money, they should abolish government subsidies to political parties, which annually costs 32 billion yen. For 15 years since the subsidy system was introduced in 1995, the LDP has received 227.7 billion yen while the DPJ received 119 billion yen in government subsidies.