It has become highly unlikely that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will dissolve the House of Representatives and hold a general election within this year, instead exerting all his energy on handling the novel coronavirus and revitalizing the economy, several sources within the government and the ruling parties said Wednesday.
With the government and the ruling coalition coordinating their views on convening an extraordinary Diet session in late October for about 50 days, Suga has been set to thoroughly prepare for the passage of important bills through the Diet.
Hiroshi Moriyama, chairperson of the Diet Affairs Committee of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, held talks at the Diet Wednesday with his counterpart in the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Jun Azumi, and conveyed the ruling coalition's plan of convening the Diet session on Oct. 23. As a plan has been hastily prepared for Suga to visit foreign countries in mid-October, there is also a possibility that the convocation could be postponed until Oct. 26.
During the session, slated to be held until sometime in the first half of December, the government and the ruling parties will aim to pass a bill designed to have the government pay compensation for health problems that may result from novel coronavirus vaccinations, and another to approve a Japan-U.K. bilateral trade accord, which is to be formally signed shortly.
Suga has previously been cautious about dissolving the lower house and holding a general election at an early stage, saying that he would throw himself into such tasks as balancing preventing the spread of coronavirus infections with reinvigorating the economy, and securing coronavirus vaccines for the whole country.
Although the number of newly infected patients has been on the decline, there is no prospect even now of the crisis being brought under control, making it imperative to boost the stagnant economy.
Furthermore, Suga has just launched his administration under the banner of "a Cabinet that works for the people." Given this, there is concern that, as a senior official of the ruling party put it, "Embarking on the dissolution of the lower house without yet having any tangible results [as an administration], and thus creating a political vacuum, would draw public criticism."
In mid-November, ceremonies to celebrate Crown Prince Akishino's ascent to first in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne are expected to be held.
Taking these circumstances into consideration, Suga seems inclined not to dissolve the lower house within this year. For the time being, in addition to coronavirus-related measures, his administration intends to tackle such tasks as the establishment of a digital agency -- to promote the digitization of administrative services in a centralized manner -- and administrative and regulatory reforms, thus aiming for tangible results.
Suga's term of office as president of the LDP will last until September next year, while that of lower house members will expire next October.
Yet calls for the lower house to be dissolved early are strong within the LDP. Suga will carefully decide on when to dissolve the lower house, if he dissolves it at all, by taking into account how the Diet deliberation unfolds and the moves the opposition parties make.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
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