Following Tuesday's re-election of Keizo Obuchi as Liberal Democratic Party president, the secretaries general of three would-be political allies met for the first time Friday to launch full-scale talks toward forming a tripartite coalition.
The LDP's bid to involve New Komeito and beef up its power base in the Upper House, where the current LDP-Liberal Party coalition lacks a majority, seems set to face further challenge.
Hirohisa Fujii of the Liberal Party said he told his counterparts during the 60-minute meeting that a trilateral agreement on the reduction of Diet seats is a precondition to launching a new coalition. "There was no objection," Fujii asserted.
New Komeito's secretary general, Tetsuzo Fuyushiba, however, sees things differently. He said the matter should be settled at the next extraordinary Diet session, which is expected to begin in early November, and that the new coalition can be launched without an agreement on the issue.
The LDP and Liberal Party agreed in January to reduce 50 proportional representation seats from the 500- member Lower House as part of their political reform plans. New Komeito, with 29 of 42 Lower House members elected through proportional representation, strongly opposes the plan.
Fuyushiba insisted the LDP-Liberal Party decision be reviewed, with other opposition forces joining the discussion, he said.
He meanwhile maintained that measures to ban corporate donations to individual lawmakers be taken at the next Diet session, despite Fujii's assertion that the three parties agreed the issue should not hinder the coalition launch. The LDP and Liberal Party are reluctant to accept New Komeito's donation ban proposal.
New Komeito, backed by Soka Gakkai, the nation's largest lay Buddhist organization, also asked that the LDP and Liberal Party set their course of opinion on its proposal to grant suffrage to foreigners permanently residing in Japan before the launch of the new Cabinet.
LDP Secretary General Yoshiro Mori said he expects the tripartite coalition to be launched in early October.
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