Japan Lower House Panel OKs Bill to Increase Upper House Seats

July 17, 2018

Tokyo- A special committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill to increase the number of seats in the House of Councillors.

The Lower House Special Committee on Political Ethics and Election Law passed the bill by a majority vote, with support from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito.

The bill to revise the public offices election law, which was submitted by the LDP and cleared the upper chamber of parliament on Wednesday, calls for increasing the number of Upper House seats by six from the current 242.

The opposition camp attempted to block the vote on the bill by submitting a no-confidence motion against the panel's chairman, Katsuei Hiranuma, which was rejected by a majority vote from the ruling parties.

The ruling camp aims to put the bill to a vote by the full Lower House as early as possible.

To block the vote, major opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, agreed to submit a censure motion against Keiji Furuya, chairman of the Lower House steering committee, if he decides to convene a plenary meeting for the vote within Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Upper House Cabinet Committee held deliberations on Tuesday morning on a bill needed to introduce integrated resorts with casinos, with attendance of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The ruling camp aims to have this bill enacted by Friday.

"The bill requires casino operators to be selected from among a wide range of applicants," Abe told the committee.

He also said the screening for issuing licenses to casino operators will be done fairly by an independent committee with strong authority, asserting that transparency will be ensured. Jiji Press