The government and the ruling parties are considering delaying the passage of a bill to extend the retirement age of prosecutors, which they had intended to pass during the current Diet session, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
If a vote is taken in the Diet amid criticism from opposition parties and the public, it could deal a serious blow to the Cabinet. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to make a final decision soon after consulting with senior members of the ruling parties and others.
The bill would revise the Public Prosecutors Office Law. It was presented to the Diet as a part of package of legislation that also includes a bill to revise the National Civil Service Law to raise the retirement age of national civil servants to 65.
The main pillar of the bill to revise the prosecutors law is to raise the retirement age for prosecutors from 63 to 65, the same age as for other national public servants. It also includes a special provision allowing the retirement age of senior prosecutors to be extended by up to three more years if the Cabinet or the justice minister deems it necessary.
The special exemption will be applied only when replacing a person in charge would "cause significant hindrance to public duties" or result in some other problem.
However, opposition parties have criticized the bill, saying it will lead to arbitrary personnel changes. On Friday, four opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, submitted a no-confidence motion against Ryota Takeda, the minister for administrative reform and who is in charge of the legislation, to prevent the bill from being put to a vote at the House of Representatives' Cabinet Committee.
The ruling bloc had planned to reject the no-confidence motion at a plenary session of the lower house scheduled on Tuesday, get the bill through the lower house within the week, and finally pass the bill during the current Diet session.
However, a growing number of prominent people objected to the bill on Twitter, and a group including a former public prosecutor-general submitted a written opinion to the Justice Ministry opposing the move.
"If votes are taken without public understanding, the feeling of opposition [among the public] will remain," an official of the ruling bloc said.
The government's measures to combat the new coronavirus have drawn considerable criticism.
"If we try to push ahead, the people's dissatisfaction will explode," a senior member of ruling Liberal Democratic Party said.
The bill sets April 1, 2022 as the date of enforcement. A government source said, "Even if it's passed during the extraordinary Diet session in autumn, that will be in time [for enforcement]."
If it is not passed during the current session, it is highly likely that the Diet will continue deliberations not only on the revision bill but also on the package of bills.
However, it is unclear whether public opposition will have subsided by the time of the next session. "It would be less damaging [to the government] to deal with the issue quickly in the current Diet session," a former cabinet minister said. The prime minister is expected to make a final decision after assessing the situation.
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