In a bid to break the Diet impasse, the ruling and opposition camps began high-level talks Monday as the opposition boycott entered its 10th day. But the six parties' Diet affairs chiefs met for only 15 minutes and made no headway as the opposition bloc insisted that all ongoing committee sessions be suspended before full-fledged negotiations begin. "The ruling camp claims they want to normalize this abnormal situation. But why are they proceeding with business as usual if they admit the situation is abnormal?" asked Tatsuo Kawabata, Diet affairs committee chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan. In an effort to find a way out of the impasse, Lower House Speaker Soichiro Ito later summoned senior members of both camps, promising to lay out an arbitration proposal today. "I think we would have to pay utmost respect to the intention of the speaker of the house," said a senior member of the Liberal Party. "But I'd be upset if our way of handling Diet business so far would be blamed." Diet affairs chiefs of the ruling coalition agreed earlier in the day that they will not back off from their current position, saying the ruling bloc has been faultless, despite the opposition's demand that the ruling camp admit its responsibility for causing the current turmoil in the legislature. The ruling camp's confidence seems to have been boosted by Sunday's victories in key local elections in Osaka and Kyoto. "Candidates backed by the Japanese Communist Party lost in (both) elections. I think it will be a big step toward restoring the Diet to normal conditions," said Takenori Kanzaki, president of New Komeito. The opposition camp comprising the DPJ, JCP and Social Democratic Party have boycotted all Diet proceedings, including sessions in which Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi made his annual policy speeches, to protest the ruling bloc's railroading of the contentious bill to cut 20 Lower House seats. The opposition parties are also demanding that "democratic rules" be set up with regard to laying out the Diet schedule as a precondition for them returning to Diet proceedings. Both sides were seeking to strike a compromise before Wednesday, when the first official one-on-one debate session between Obuchi and opposition leaders is scheduled to kick off.
