THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
November 8, 2024 at 12:23 JST
The Diet building in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan will appoint one of its Lower House members as chairman of the Budget Committee, the first time an opposition party will hold the key Diet post in 30 years.
Tetsushi Sakamoto, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Diet Affairs Committee, and his CDP counterpart, Hirofumi Ryu, agreed on Nov. 7 that an opposition lawmaker will chair the influential committee.
The LDP acquiesced to the opposition demand after the party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majority in the Oct. 27 Lower House election.
The CDP, the largest opposition party, plans to appoint former Diet affairs chief Jun Azumi as Budget Committee chairman, sources said.
The Budget Committee deliberates not only the government’s budget proposals but also any other issue concerning national politics.
All Cabinet ministers attend Budget Committee sessions, offering opportunities for members to question ministers over scandals and demand the prime minister’s responses.
With a chairman from an opposition party overseeing the proceedings, the ruling parties will be unable to suspend deliberations or force draft budgets and other measures to a vote.
The CDP plans to investigate the LDP’s fund-raising scandal and advance political reform and Diet reform at the Budget Committee by leveraging the chairman’s authority.
The Lower House has 17 standing committees, including the Budget Committee.
Sakamoto and Ryu agreed that eight of them will be chaired by LDP lawmakers and six by CDP lawmakers.
Members of Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), the Democratic Party for the People and Komeito will chair one each of the remaining committees.
Opposition Lower House members are also expected to serve as chairman of the Commission on the Constitution and chairman of the special committee on political reform.
Sakamoto and Ryu agreed that the special Diet session, which will open on Nov. 11, will close in four days on the condition that an extraordinary Diet session will be convened at an early date.
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