Lower House Speaker Wants Opposition Parties to End Diet Boycott

May 7, 2018

Tokyo- House of Representatives Speaker Tadamori Oshima called on opposition parties on Monday to return to deliberations at the Diet, Japan's parliament, that they have been boycotting for more than two weeks over a series of scandals involving the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Oshima made the request in a meeting with Kiyomi Tsujimoto, Diet affairs chief of the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

Tsujimoto submitted to Oshima joint proposals by the CDPJ and five other opposition parties that call for thorough Diet deliberations about the scandals, including favoritism allegations against the prime minister involving a school operator headed by a friend of his.

The proposals also urged the government to present documents and investigation results related to the scandals to the Diet promptly.

Oshima told Tsujimoto that he will work to create an environment for ruling and opposition parties to hold talks.

In a separate meeting, Oshima called on Hiroshi Moriyama, Diet affairs head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, to boost efforts to normalize Diet business.

Although Moriyama and Tsujimoto held talks later, they failed to reach a decision on whether to normalize Diet deliberations.

The focal point is whether the opposition side will accept the ruling camp's willingness to summon Tadao Yanase, former executive secretary to Abe, to the Diet to give testimony as an unsworn witness over the favoritism scandal involving Kake Educational Institution.

The six opposition parties have been boycotting Diet deliberations since April 20, urging the government to summon Yanase to the Diet as a sworn witness.

In a reversal of his previous claims, Yanase is expected to admit in his envisaged Diet testimony that he did meet with the Kake Educational Institution side at the prime minister's office over a veterinary school planned by the institution.

Against this background, the opposition parties now believe that it would be better for them to return to Diet deliberations and grill the Abe government through Diet discussions, people familiar with the situation said.

The Kake group opened a university faculty of veterinary medicine last month in a national strategic special zone for deregulation in Imabari in Ehime Prefecture, western Japan.

The secretaries-general and Diet affairs chiefs of the LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, held talks on Monday and agreed to boost efforts to promote deliberations on work style reform legislation, a top priority for the Abe administration in the current Diet session, scheduled to end June 20. Jiji Press