(Manila Times) BUSY PM Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on September 16, 2020. AFP PHOTO
TOKYO:

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) on Friday requested the end of the current parliamentary session be pushed back by three months to allow for more debate on matters related to Covid-19 and the Tokyo Olympics.
The request was made by the CDPJ›s head of Diet affairs Jun Azumi to his counterpart Hiroshi Moriyama in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) during a meeting between the pair.

The request came as the CDPJ and other opposition parties have been critical of the government›s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, believing that its efforts to curb the spread of the virus have been inadequate, particularly the slow pace of its vaccination campaign.

They have also taken issue with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga›s pledge holding the Olympics this summer in Tokyo will be “safe and secure.”

This came amid opposition parties› concerns the capital is currently under a third Covid-19 state of emergency, along with nine other prefectures, as the entire nation continues to grapple with the fourth wave of infections.

Next Monday when Suga returns to Japan after his trip to Britain for the Group of Seven summit, the LDP-led coalition will reply to the CDPJ›s request for the current session, set to end next Wednesday, to be extended, Moriyama said.

Opposition parties have said they will file a vote of no confidence in Suga›s cabinet if the request for an extension is turned down by the ruling coalition.

Japan enacts revised national referendum law

Japan’s upper house of the parliament on Friday passed a bill revising the national referendum law following three years of negotiations between the pro-revision ruling LDP and the main opposition CDPJ.

The revision to the law will allow for polling stations to be set up in public places, although the passage of the bill through the lower house only came with the CDPJ›s cooperation and reflects changes to the law required in return.

The approval of the bill initially came as a result of the pro-revisionist LDP accepting the CDPJ’s insistence the bill be modified with a clause added stating restrictions must be placed on financing and media campaigns for a national referendum within three years after the revised law comes into effect.

Without the restrictions being added to the bill, the CDPJ argued the LDP›s deep-pockets for campaign funding would calculatingly influence voters› decisions.

The main opposition party›s demands for the bill to be modified were met during a meeting in May between the secretary generals of the CDPJ and the LDP.

The ruling LDP has remained committed to trying to rewrite Japan›s post-war, pacifist charter, which has remained unchanged since the supreme law came into effect.

For the ruling party to propose a revision to the constitution, a two-thirds majority is required in both chambers of Japan›s bicameral parliament before a national referendum on the matter.

The opposition bloc, in contrast to the LDP, has been ardently opposed to revising the pacifist charter, particularly the war-renouncing Article 9 of the constitution.