In what could be the start of an opposition party realignment, Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People have begun to jointly push for a parliamentary debate on revising the Constitution, which both they and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party favor.
On Tuesday, Nippon Ishin Secretary-General Nobuyuki Baba and DPP Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba agreed to accelerate the debate over constitutional revision by seeking discussions with other parties in an Upper House committee studying the issue.
“People are saying the Diet is not functioning and that Diet members are not doing their jobs. The first thing that needs to change are the Diet members themselves,” Baba said Tuesday, explaining the reasons why the two parties have decided to cooperate — albeit at this point only in areas they agree on.