The Diet's deepening divide was underscored Monday when the ruling bloc led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party bulldozed through an electoral reform bill in a manner not seen since 2008.
The bill, which will trim the number of Lower House seats by five to fractionally ease the unconstitutional disparity in the weight of votes, was enacted by the Lower House by a more than two-thirds majority. The second vote was triggered when the opposition-controlled Upper House effectively rejected it under the Constitution's Article 59, which allows a two-thirds Lower House majority to enact legislation that was sent to the Upper House but not acted upon within 60 days.
The Lower House approved the electoral reform bill in its first vote April 23, but the upper chamber refused to deliberate and the 60-day deadline passed last Friday. The use of a second Lower House vote based on Article 59 hasn't been seen since 2008.