The Democratic Party of Japan will once more consider trying to get a bill passed to upgrade the government's policy unit into a more strategic bureau if it wins support from Your Party, DPJ Secretary General Yukio Edano said Sunday.
Edano also said on an NHK political talk show that his party is willing to discuss reducing not only the number of proportional-representation seats in the Lower House, as it has promised, but also the number of single-seat districts in light of opposition to the DPJ pledge by small opposition parties.
Following its setback in the July 11 Upper House election, which made it difficult for the ruling camp to pursue legislation on its own, the DPJ-led administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has decided to shelve its goal of upgrading the National Policy Unit and instead scale back its role, but Edano suggested otherwise.
"We are pursuing different tracks on the premise that it is difficult to pass bills in the current political situation, and there is room for discussions in the Diet if we can advance in a constructive manner with cooperation from Your Party," he said.