Illegal-minded Leader

The House of Councillors, with majority of the opposite parties, on Tuesday passed a resolution to question the responsibility of Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. The reason was that he, with his cabinet members, was absent in the Committee of Budget, violating the Constitution of Japan. The significance of the resolution was that one of two highest organs of state power denied the credibility of the leader of the executive branch. In the context of the Constitution, cabinet is responsible to the Diet. So, Prime Minister Abe has theologically lost one half of its legitimacy. Media, however, criticizes more about opposite parties than Abe.

The process before the resolution was complicated. Chaired by a lawmaker with Democratic Party of Japan, the Committee set a meeting for discussing Abe’s handlings of politics on Monday and Tuesday. The cabinet members, however, refused to attend it, because a non-confidence resolution against the Chairman of the House of Councillors, Kenji Hirata, had been submitted and had yet voted on it. Cabinet spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, appealed that although the request for ministers’ attendance should have been done through the Chairman, he was under the question and the request had been invalid.

DPJ insisted that regardless the situation of the Chairman, cabinet members could not refuse the request of attendance. Article 63 of the Constitution requires cabinet members to attend a session of the Diet whenever requested. The meeting of the Committee spent time without any discussion with the absence of all cabinet ministers.

DPJ at first was reluctant to support the resolution asking PM’s responsibility, because it would emphasize its negative attitude to national politics. But, after other opposite parties had submitted the resolution, DPJ decided to join it to show its negative standpoint against PM Abe, rather than being looked as supportive for the administration. Affected by collision between both sides of the aisle, some important bills, including electric power distribution system reform or supporting low-income families, were not passed.

It is obvious all parties were responsible for the trouble at the end of the session. But, what made matters worse was Abe’s neglectful attitude on abiding by the Constitution. While welcoming the discussion over the amendment, Abe is actually accumulating the facts to mutilate the Constitution. Against the Article 99 on the obligation of public officials to respect and uphold the Constitution, Abe officially stated in the Diet that he would seek changing the provisions of the Constitution. He seems to have forgotten his standpoint endorsed by current constitution. It is no good for democracy of Japan to let this illegal-minded leader gain more power after the election next month.