Photo/Illutration Lower House members cast their votes for prime minister in the Diet building in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Nov. 11. (Usen To)

“Let’s draw back the curtains and let the sunshine in,” Australian Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Julia Gillard told a news conference in 2010.

In the federal election held in August that year, neither the government nor opposition parties won a simple majority, creating a “hung parliament” for the first time in 70 years.

It was 17 days after the election that Gillard was elected for another term with the cooperation of nonaffiliated legislators.

Gillard was expected to have a rough term, but she promised to “make transparent” the assembly as well as the Labor Party that were dubbed “secret chambers,” and engaged in lively debate with opposition leaders without relying on prepared notes.

The Diet, which also was “hung,” opened for a special session on Nov. 11.

In the Oct. 27 Lower House election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, failed to win a majority. LDP President Shigeru Ishiba, who was elected prime minister in a runoff ballot, was saved by invalid votes.

We wish his administration would take this opportunity to do something about the nation’s hopelessly stilted deliberative procedures.

When party leaders ask questions in the Diet, the prime minister typically just reads aloud reports written by bureaucrats. And when the end of a Diet session nears, the ruling coalition steamrolls bills through into becoming law.

As for opposition parties, about the only thing they know to do in terms of fighting the system is trying to kill government bills by maneuvering the timetable.

One of the causes of this dysfunction, if you will, is the LDP’s long-practiced “prior screening” system.

Under this arrangement, budget bills and other bills drawn up by the Cabinet are screened by the LDP’s Policy Research Council and other entities before they are presented to the Diet.

There is no legal foundation for this practice. According to “Jiminto Seiji no Genryu” (Origins of LDP politics), it is commonly believed to have started with a letter written by a senior LDP executive in 1962, but other sources suggest it came into existence much earlier.

What is important in democracy is the process leading up to the conclusion. But the prior screening system hides the process from the public.

Given its non-majority status now, the LDP-led coalition cannot hope to pass its bills without negotiating with opposition parties.

Now is the time to draw open the curtains and enliven the Diet.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 12

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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