Opposition submits no-confidence motion against Abe cabinet

June 25, 2019

Tokyo-The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and four other opposition forces jointly introduced a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet in the Diet, Japan's parliament, on Tuesday.

The motion, submitted to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, is apparently intended to highlight the opposition camp's confrontational approach to the Abe administration before the current Diet session ends on Wednesday.

The four other opposition forces are the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and a Lower House group called the Reviewing Group on Social Security Policy.

Before submitting the motion, the heads of the five opposition forces held a meeting and agreed to cooperate in confronting the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito in a triennial election this summer for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber.

The no-confidence motion is expected to be put to a vote at a plenary meeting of the Lower House on Tuesday afternoon.

If the motion prompts Abe to call for a snap election for the lower chamber on the same day as the Upper House election, "We'll bring down the Abe government," CDPJ leader Yukio Edano told a press conference after the meeting with other opposition leaders.

Hiroshi Moriyama, the LDP's Diet affairs chief, said the ruling camp will "vote down (the no-confidence motion) without making a fuss about it."

In the motion, the five opposition forces criticized the Abe cabinet for continuously deceiving the public through internal politics and diplomacy. Jiji Press