The Lower House finance committee chairman was removed Wednesday after a united opposition front supported a dismissal motion in a bid to hurt the ruling coalition ahead of the upcoming Upper House election.
It is the first time ever that a motion against the head of a committee has cleared the Lower House — with a 237-221 vote — reflecting the vulnerabilities of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s minority government. A similar motion has been approved in the Upper House in the past.
Tatsunori Ibayashi, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, became the target of the dismissal motion for failing to allow deliberations on a bill to abolish the gasoline tax in the final stage of the parliamentary session. Yukihiko Akutsu, a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker, was chosen to replace him in an election in the Lower House hours later with 238 votes. He is expected to kickstart the debate over the bill in the coming hours.
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