Leaders of the three major opposition parties pledged Friday after their boycott of the day's plenary sessions in both Diet houses to maintain a united front and overthrow the coalition government led by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. The Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party vowed to dig in their heels to protest what they called the ruling bloc's abuse of its numerical strength in the Diet. The leaders of the three parties also agreed during their meeting at the Diet building that they will jointly fight to "restore parliamentary democracy" in the Diet and to have the Lower House dissolved at the earliest possible time. DPJ president Yukio Hatoyama said the three parties will discuss concrete steps for their joint campaign to oust the Obuchi Cabinet, which would take place both inside and outside the Diet. "Parliamentary democracy in this country is on the brink of death," SDP leader Takako Doi said. "This Diet is not functioning (properly) with the ruling camp ignoring deliberations." JCP head Tetsuzo Fuwa said: "We need to explain to the public that the situation is very critical. And we must form a big movement (that would lead to the dissolution of the Lower House)." Some senior members of the DPJ, however, are cautious about the growing closeness between Hatoyama and Fuwa, especially ahead of the Feb. 6 gubernatorial election in Osaka Prefecture. In the race, a candidate jointly supported by the DPJ and the three ruling parties is competing against a JCP-backed candidate, and some DPJ members express concern that the joint front at the national level may hurt the campaign at the local level. "The only good thing at (Friday's) meeting was that (Hatoyama) did not shake hands with Fuwa," said a senior DPJ member. "Our local chapter members in Osaka would have been furious if he did." The DPJ member who asked not to be named said that the DPJ cannot openly cooperate with the JCP until, at least, the Osaka election is over. Meanwhile, the ruling coalition parties said Friday that they would press ahead with efforts to have the House of Councilors pass the controversial seat-reduction bill by Thursday, when the Lower House will begin deliberations on the fiscal 2000 budget, top officials of the three parties said. "We intend to enact the bill before deliberations on the budget start in the Lower House. That was our promise concerning the bill at the beginning of the Diet session," said Masakuni Murakami, chairman of the LDP's Upper House lawmakers. The promise mentioned by Murakami is the agreement the LDP made with the Liberal Party, which has threatened to otherwise leave the tripartite coalition unless the bill clears the legislature at the start of the Diet session. The contentious seat-slashing bill was passed through the Lower House on Thursday and was sent to the Upper House despite harsh protests from the opposition camp. Ahead of the scheduled start of Friday's Upper House session, the secretaries general of the three opposition parties' legislator bodies met with Upper House President Juro Saito, calling on him not to ring the ceremonial bell that signals the convening of the chamber's plenary session. But Saito rang the bell and the Upper House session began with nearly half of its 252 members absent. The ruling coalition of the LDP, Liberal Party and New Komeito now holds 143 of the chamber's 252 seats. 'Shadow Diet' session planned> The opposition Democratic Party of Japan announced Friday that it will set up "another Diet," a system under which the party's lawmakers will proceed with deliberations on key bills with the involvement of the public at a venue outside the Diet building. "We would like the Japanese people to judge for themselves which government listens to the voice of the people," DPJ President Yukio Hatoyama told a news conference. The first meeting of the DPJ's shadow Diet will take place Monday at a building adjacent to the actual legislature, where interpellations on Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's policy speech are slated to be held the same day, Hatoyama said. The DPJ will also convene its own budget committee Thursday, when the real Lower House Budget Committee is to begin deliberations on the fiscal 2000 budget. The party said it will soon set up a headquarters within the party to organize its efforts to call for the dissolution of the Lower House at the earliest possible date and to collect signatures from voters demanding an early general election.
