Secretaries general of the three ruling parties agreed Wednesday that an extraordinary Diet session should be convened either Oct. 18 or Oct. 21 and run through the middle of December.
They will formally determine the date Thursday during a meeting of leaders from the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party, LDP Secretary General Taku Yamasaki told reporters.
During the meeting, the leaders are expected to reiterate their determination to have two controversial sets of bills pending from the previous Diet session -- the emergency contingency bills and a bill on protection of personal information -- enacted in the extraordinary session.
But Yamasaki said he wasn't optimistic about the prospects for the legislation and suggested that further work on them could be postponed until next year, when a regular Diet session will convene in January.
Speculation is growing that the coalition will avoid the unpopular bills and focus on economic measures instead.
In a separate meeting among key members of the LDP, Mikio Aoki, secretary general of the Upper House caucus, stressed the need to swiftly hold talks with the coalition and the opposition camp to revise the bills.
Meanwhile, Yamasaki said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will talk with LDP executives Friday and may reshuffle the Cabinet on Monday.