As the prospect of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolving the Lower House draws closer, the chances of his administration's key bills passing the current Diet session appear increasingly slim.
Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its ruling camp ally, Komeito, have effectively given up the enactment of a key bill to promote the status of women that would back up Abe's much touted policy to create a society in which "every woman can shine." And a bill to revise the worker dispatch law, which would remove the three-year limit on employment of temp workers on the same job, is also expected to be scrapped.
The only major legislation now likely to pass the Diet are two bills to revitalize rural economies. The ruling parties agreed Wednesday to redouble efforts to pass these bills, with the aim of enacting them as early as Wednesday, the earliest date Abe is rumored to be considering for a dissolution of the chamber.