Japan Ruling Camp Defers Decision on Diet Extension

June 6, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's ruling camp agreed Tuesday to decide whether to extend the ongoing session of the Diet, the country's parliament, after assessing progress on discussions on important bills in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber.

The ruling parties are considering the possibility of extending the current Diet session, now scheduled to end on June 20, in order to secure enough time for enactment of key bills, including legislation aimed at introducing casinos in Japan.

The policy was agreed at a meeting of senior officials of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito.

The officials also agreed to boost efforts to ensure enactment of key bills as they believe that the Ministry of Finance has tackled seriously the issue of its falsification of documents related to a high-profile favoritism scandal involving school operator Moritomo Gakuen, once linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife, Akie, informed sources said.

On Monday, the ministry released the results of its investigation into the falsification of documents on a discount sale of a state land plot to Moritomo Gakuen, punishing a total of 20 former and incumbent officials involved in tampering with the papers.

The key bills include those related to work style reform and a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement among Japan and 10 other countries, excluding the United States.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Hiroshi Moriyama, Diet affairs chief of the LDP, said the ruling parties will closely monitor developments in Upper House discussions on bills for which the ruling bloc hopes to win approval during the current session. Jiji Press