Japan's ruling party is considering putting off a memorial speech in parliament for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe until this fall, after its plan for his close aide to deliver it in August met resistance from within the party and from opposition parties, lawmakers said Thursday.
Akira Amari, who was an economy minister in the Abe administration and was personally close to him, was floated as a candidate to speak in parliament during an extraordinary session starting next week.
The Liberal Democratic Party is now being forced to review the plan, which opposition lawmakers said would break with the long-standing practice of a leader from a different party giving such a speech in order to express condolences beyond the differences of political views.