Lower House Speaker Hiroyuki Hosoda has repeatedly made remarks that belittle what is stipulated in law despite his position as head of the legislature.

An influential figure in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party until he left it to take up his current post, Hosoda has also come under a barrage of criticism for remarks that sounded out of touch with public common sense.

In addition, he has refused to fulfill his accountability with respect to allegations he sexually harassed female reporters.

Hosoda is not qualified to be speaker of the lower chamber. The way he is behaving could jeopardize public trust in the Diet.

The allegations of Hosoda’s sexual harassment appeared in two successive issues of the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine.

The articles, among other things, quoted one reporter as saying she received a phone call late at night from Hosoda asking her to come to his home immediately.

Another was quoted as saying that Hosoda emailed her numerous times to suggest they dine together.

Hosoda protested the initial article, labeling its allegations “groundless.” When the follow-up article came out, he released a terse comment saying he would “consider suing” the magazine when the current Diet session winds up.

Opposition parties pressed him to explain himself before the Lower House Committee on Rules and Administration, but he has refused to comply.

Quizzed by reporters, he only said, “All I have to say is in my letter of protest, and my position has not changed.”

A lawmaker who has come under suspicion for a reason has a duty to answer questions, willingly and carefully, before the public.

Hosoda lacks sincerity if he intends to ride out the current Diet session, which will close in slightly more than two weeks from now, without setting an example of conduct as the speaker.

This is not the first time that Hosoda’s qualification as the Lower House speaker has come into question.

Late last year, Hosoda made negative remarks about the “add 10, take away 10” Lower House seat redistribution formula being considered for rectifying disparities in the value of a vote.

“We could do better than just taking seats from the provinces and giving them to urban areas,” he said in proposing his own idea of adding and taking away three seats.

Critics argued that the speaker, whose stance is supposed to be neutral, should not oppose plans to rezone electoral districts in line with the law, but Hosoda remained indifferent and continued calling for a review of the redistribution formula, which he said was about “bullying the provinces.”

Bunmei Ibuki, a former Lower House speaker who was also from the LDP, rightly remonstrated with him by saying, “The authority of the Diet is completely ruined when (the speaker) openly criticizes a parliamentary decision.”

Hosoda also created a stir with a remark he made during a political fund-raising party earlier this month.

“Even as the speaker, I am receiving only 1 million yen ($7,900) in monthly pay,” he said on the occasion. “At listed companies, presidents are invariably paid 100 million yen at least.”

He likely wanted to say there would be no need to reduce the number of representatives of the provinces if the total number of Diet seats were to be increased. His rationale appears to be that the increase would not be very costly anyway because lawmakers are not being paid a lot.

However, the Diet and private companies should not have been discussed on the same terms. In addition, the sensitivity he showed in adding the modifier “only” to a monthly pay of 1 million yen further broadens the gap between himself and the public, who are feeling their voices are not being heard in the political circles.

Public trust in the speaker, which is the cornerstone of fair and neutral parliamentary proceeding, is at stake. That state of things should not be left as it is.

The entire legislature should call on Hosoda to address the matter responsibly.

The LDP bears a particularly heavy responsibility in all this.

The ruling party should not be allowed to assume it is none of its business just because Hosoda is currently not affiliated with the LDP’s in-house group.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 28