The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), agreed Friday to submit a bill that creates a framework for reducing Lower House seats during the ongoing session of parliament. However, the two parties have yet to reach a conclusion on the actual number of seats to be cut and whether to reduce proportional seats or single seats.
Roughly 10% of the current 465 seats are set to be reduced under the bill, with the maximum number of seats remaining set at 420, former Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, a senior LDP member of a committee deliberating the cut, told reporters Friday morning.
Of the 465 seats in the Lower House, 289 are under single-seat constituencies while the remaining 176 are assigned to parties according to their support under proportional representation.
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