Confusion reigns in the current extraordinary Diet session, with the opposition forces boycotting debate to protest the ruling bloc's forcible move to revise the Upper House election system.
The governing alliance -- made up of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- is sponsoring legislation that would change the election-roster system in the chamber's proportional-representation section. The opposition camp -- consisting of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Party, the Japan Communist Party and the Socialist Democratic Party -- has boycotted almost all committee debate in both houses in protest against the bill revising the Public Offices Election Law.
The 72-day session, which opened Sept. 21 and will last until Dec. 1, is unusually long for an extra session. Scheduled for debate are several important bills that would ban influence peddling by lawmakers; grant voting rights in local elections to permanent foreign residents; revise the police law; and lower the age at which juvenile offenders would become subject to criminal punishment to 14 from the present 16. With the opposition forces boycotting debate, the session will have little chance of enacting these major bills.