The Democratic Party of Japan and Liberal Democratic Party agreed Thursday to call an extraordinary Diet session on Oct. 26 that will run through Nov. 30.
This is in line with what Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said Wednesday would be the optimum schedule, given two Upper House by-elections on Oct. 25 and a trip by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to Thailand the same weekend.
DPJ Diet affairs chief Kenji Yamaoka, who reached the agreement with his LDP counterpart, Jiro Kawasaki, said he would discuss the timetable within the coalition government by the end of Thursday.
The agreement with the LDP came one day after the DPJ and its coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto, agreed to start the session Oct. 23.
The LDP was against Oct. 23 because it would allow Hatoyama to deliver a policy speech in the Diet but not compel him to answer questions before the by-elections, which LDP lawmakers said could benefit the DPJ in the polls. The LDP wants to grill him over the political funds scandal he is involved in.
There were also concerns that opening the session that day could conflict with Hatoyama's plans to attend a meeting in Thailand related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.