Photo/Illutration Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks to reporters after meeting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the prime minister’s office on May 18. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Heated opposition from retired prosecutors has forced Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to delay a plan to revise the Public Prosecutors Office Law and extend the mandatory retirement age of prosecutors from 63 to 65.

Abe on May 18 met with Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and other lawmakers at the prime minister's office in Tokyo.

"We cannot push forward without the support and understanding of the public," they agreed, according to sources.

The debate and a vote on the bill will be conducted in the next Diet session or at a later date.

"It's not good to polarize public opinion in the midst of the new coronavirus pandemic," an LDP representative said of the reason behind the decision.

Abe has instructed that the second supplementary budget needed as an economic measure to battle the COVID-19 pandemic be wrapped up by around May 27.

But the administration was concerned that if the LDP railroads the legislation to revise the prosecutor law, it would negatively affect the budget discussion schedule.

“We don’t mind not having the bill enacted in the current Diet session,” a high-ranking government official said earlier in the day.

“The backlash from retired prosecutors has changed the mood of the prime minister’s office,” an LDP official also said, hinting the government would not rush to pass the bill.

The revision bill would delay the mandatory retirement age to 65 from the current 63, step by step.

But a proposed special provision would allow prosecutors in top positions to remain in those positions for up to three additional years at the government's discretion.

Critics and opposition parties argue the legislation will erode the separation of powers, and the neutrality and independence of prosecutors.

Celebrities have expressed their opposition to the bill on Twitter.

Retired top prosecutors, including a former prosecutor-general, submitted a position paper to the Justice Ministry denouncing the bill on May 15.

On May 18, an additional 38 retired prosecutors submitted a similar opinion brief to the ministry. The members included several former heads of the special investigation department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

Passing the revision in the face of the opposition and criticism would “lead to an erosion of the public’s confidence in prosecutors,” the brief said.

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