LDP, JIP and DPP plan to cut Lower House seats, ending standoff

The Liberal Democratic Party, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP) approved a plan Thursday to cut 31 Lower House proportional representation seats, ending a standoff between the ruling coalition and opposition party over how many seats would be cut.

“As a result of including our party’s opinions, we reached an agreement,” opposition DPP Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba told reporters on the day.

Having secured a parliamentary majority, the three parties plan to introduce and pass a related bill by the end of the current session, which is scheduled to end Dec. 12.

Thursday’s agreement by the parties’ secretaries-general came after negotiations between the three parties resulted in an LDP-brokered deal Wednesday, in which the coalition partner JIP settled for a cut of 14 fewer seats than it wanted while the DPP agreed to 12 more seat cuts than it had proposed.

“Accepting the revised plan was the best course of action overall,” DPP deputy leader Motohisa Furukawa told reporters Wednesday.

He gave three reasons for agreeing. Firstly, the deal is about fundamental political reform and the seat reduction is a temporary measure.

Secondly, DPP-sought changes were included to introduce a joint candidate list system and adopt a modified method for proportional representation seat allocation that is advantageous to small parties like the DPP.

Thirdly, except for the exact number of seats to be cut, the DPP’s other ideas for political reform were adopted.

A 10% reduction of roughly 45 seats had been agreed to last year as a condition for the JIP joining the LDP in a ruling coalition, and was a centerpiece of the JIP’s policies. But the figure had no opposition party support and concerns were also expressed within the LDP, forcing the JIP to compromise.

JIP co-leader Fumitake Fujita said the 31 seat cut fell short of his party’s goal. But with the ruling coalition lacking an Upper House majority, the JIP had no choice but to compromise in order to find opposition party support.

“The DPP has agreed to support us. We’ll move forward from here, having achieved about 70% of our pledge to realize a 10%, or roughly 45 seat, reduction in Lower House seats,” Fujita told reporters Thursday.