The ruling coalition parties will aim to capture 269 seats in the next Lower House election, widely expected to be held on June 25, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said Sunday.
Although a simple majority in the House of Representatives can be clinched with 241 seats this election, Aoki said in a press conference here that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party should aim to have an "absolutely comfortable majority."
Aoki based his figure on the fact that people chairing Lower House committees cannot vote on legislative matters within those committees. If the coalition secures a majority, some of its power will be diluted when it assigns members to lead various committees as the chairmanships are allocated in proportion to the number of seats each party holds in the chamber. Thus, extra seats must be won, he said.
As of Friday, the coalition had 336 — or 67 percent — of the 500 seats in the lower chamber. Due to administrative reforms, the total will be reduced to 480 seats beginning with this election. The goal Aoki has suggested would give the alliance 56 percent of the seats.