Debate on a controversial bill that would grant permanent foreign residents the right to vote in local elections will probably be carried over to the ordinary session that is to convene in January.
Submitted to the Diet in July and initially thought to have had a chance to be enacted by the end of the year, the bill now faces a tough journey after debate has intensified in recent months.
Among the fundamental points of contention is the constitutionality of granting foreign residents local suffrage. Other arguments broach the ideal of local autonomy and the future course of Japan.