After half a day of confusion, a bill to broaden the circumstances under which funds from the Deposit Insurance Corp. can aid financially troubled institutions was approved Tuesday evening by the full Lower House.
Supporting the bill were the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake, the LDP's two smaller non-Cabinet allies. Some independent lawmakers also voted for the bill.
Three major noncommunist opposition parties - Shinshinto, the Democratic Party of Japan and Taiyo Party - boycotted the plenary session vote in protest of the LDP's forcible management of Diet proceedings. The Japanese Communist Party attended and voted against the bill.