Abe to dissolve Lower House at Sept. 28 start of Diet session

September 21, 2017

TOKYO- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seen dissolving the House of Representatives for a snap general election at the start of the planned extraordinary parliamentary session slated for Sept. 28, informed sources said Wednesday.

The schedule is being discussed by the government and the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, according to the sources.

It is likely that there will be no policy speeches by Abe or opening ceremony for the forthcoming session, the sources also said.

These details will be finalized after Abe returns home from his ongoing US trip.

On Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga will convey the plan to open the extraordinary Diet session on Sept. 28 to executives of the steering committees of the Lower House and the House of Councillors.

Since the end of World War II, Japan has dissolved the lower chamber at the outset of a Diet session only three times, in 1966, 1986 and 1996. On all three occasions, policy speeches by the prime minister and an opening ceremony were skipped.

The expected Lower House dissolution is likely to anger the opposition side, which requests policy speeches, question-and-answer sessions on the speeches and budget committee meetings.

Speaking at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club, former Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono was critical of the reported plan to dissolve the all-important chamber.

Abe looks poised to make the move without making full explanations regarding favoritism scandals involving Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Educational Institution, which he has promised to do, Kono said. Jiji Press