Shinzo Abe administration made up its mind
on Monday to extend current session of the Diet until December 14th. The
leaders of Liberal Democratic Party required fourteen more days for some
important issues, including ratification of Trans-Pacific Partnership or the
bills for pension reform, to be passed. Some unexpected gaffes by some staffs
of Prime Minister Abe in the Diet forced the leading party demanding unexpectedly
long overtime. Political schedule within this year got tight, accordingly.
Abe had a meeting with President of
Komeito, Natsuo Yamaguchi, on Monday, in which they agreed on extending the
session, once planned to be ending on Wednesday, for fourteen days by a day
before the top meeting between Japan and Russia in Abe’s home town. “Extending
for fourteen days is appropriate, when we consider passing the bills for
pension reform and TPP, with regard to important diplomatic schedule,” told Abe
to Yamaguchi.
The discussion over pension reform was in
confusion in the House of Representatives, caused by inappropriate speeches by
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Yuji Yamamoto, which indicated
coercive showdown for the pension bills before finishing discussion. Some LDP
lawmakers thought that they might not have needed the extension, if Yamamoto
had not made those careless speeches. Abe had to accept the requirement from
LDP to compensate failures of a Minister in his Cabinet.
Careless speeches did not stop. Deputy
Chief Cabinet Secretary, Koichi Hagiuda, who was known as a king of gaffe,
accused the opposite parties as playing “rural pro-wrestling show,” making the
opposite lawmakers furious. Minister on Okinawa and Northern Issues, Yosuke
Tsuruho, supported discriminative wording of a policeman to the protesters in
Okinawa, calling them natives. “I cannot decide the words as discrimination,”
said Tsuruho, inviting broad criticisms.
The opposite parties are encouraged by own
goals of Abe administration. “We oppose discussing bills that is against will
of the people,” told Chairman of Diet Affairs Committee of Democratic Party,
Kazunori Yamanoi. The opposite parties are planning to submit moves requiring
resignation of Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Yasuhisa Shiozaki, and
Chairman of the Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare in House of
Representatives, Hideki Niwa, both of whom are in charge of pension bills.
Focusing on the meeting with Russian
President, Vladimir Putin, Abe has no time to stay in a quagmire of lawmakers
in the Diet. But, lacking concentration among his staffs, Abe administration
looks like losing its power as it has been keeping. Dissolving House of
Representatives is left as an ambitious option with high risk of steep decline.
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