Japan Press Weekly

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2007 March 14 - 20 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Ruling parties forcibly adopt schedule for public hearing on bill to establish procedures for constitutional revision

On March 15, at a House of Representatives Special Committee meeting convened under the authority of the committee chair, the ruling Liberal Democratic and Komei parties forced through a decision to hold on March 22 a central public hearing on a bill to establish procedures for revision of the Constitution (national referendum bill).

At a Rules and Administration Committee meeting held later on the day, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji expressed his opposition to endorsing the holding of the public hearing, which the ruling parties regard as the “green light” to a vote on the bill, saying, “If the ruling parties really want to listen to public opinion by holding a public hearing, not only a central public hearing but also local public hearings need to be held, and an open-ended thoroughgoing deliberation on the bill should be made.”

Referring to the fact that the ruling parties are intent on passing the bill through the House of Representatives in early April, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo at a press conference criticized them for undermining parliamentary democracy by drawing up the schedule for a public hearing with a specific voting date in mind.

Shii also criticized Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who had instructed the ruling parties that the bill be enacted in the current session of the Diet, for going against the constitutional principle of the independence of the three branches of government.

The JCP chair expressed his renewed determination to develop popular movements to scrap the bill to establish procedures for constitutional revision which is inseparable from the adverse revision of Article 9.