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LDP and Ishin Push Seat Reduction Bill for Passage Before Dec. 17 Deadline

Opposition resistance has stalled committee deliberations, leaving the outcome in doubt.

Overview

  • LDP secretary-general Shunichi Suzuki said the ruling camp aims to pass the bill within the current Diet session without an extension and urged prompt deliberations.
  • Suzuki and Japan Innovation Party secretary-general Hiroshi Nakatsukasa met and reaffirmed continued efforts to secure enactment during this session.
  • Opposition parties remain focused on political-donation legislation, and the House Political Reform Special Committee has not begun considering the proposal.
  • The bill includes an automatic trigger to reduce 45 Lower House seats—25 single-member and 20 proportional—if no electoral-system agreement is reached within one year of enforcement.
  • Former LDP leader Shigeru Ishiba criticized the plan as hasty and questioned the government’s rice coupon initiative as a use of tax funds, underscoring internal and external pushback.