Overview
- The jointly submitted bill creates a cross-party council under the Lower House speaker and, absent agreement within a year, would automatically cut 45 seats—25 single-member districts and 20 proportional-representation seats.
- The ruling parties are targeting passage by December 17 in the current extraordinary session, but the relevant Lower House committee is chaired by the Constitutional Democratic Party and the calendar is tight.
- Leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People say they support seat reduction in principle yet oppose automatic cuts and want political funding reforms addressed first.
- Critics warn that trimming proportional seats would disadvantage smaller parties and weaken regional voices; Kyodo’s census-based estimate projects Kyushu would lose four seats, including one each in Fukuoka and Okinawa and two in the Kyushu PR block.
- Ishin is pressing for enactment, hinting at a bid to oust the special committee chair and courting the Sansei Party, while dissent within the LDP includes calls to slow deliberations.