Japan Ordinary Diet Session Ends without Extension

   Tokyo, June 24 (Jiji Press)--The Diet, Japan's parliament, wrapped up this year's 150-day ordinary session without an extension on Sunday, after debates centered on the issue of politics and money in the wake of a political funds scandal involving factions at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
   An LDP-sponsored bill to revise the political funds control law, aimed at preventing a repeat of the money scandal, was enacted Wednesday by a majority vote. While some in the opposition camp sought an extension of the Diet session to reform the so-called research, public relations and accommodation allowances for lawmakers, the ruling camp refused the request.
   Under the revised law, lawmakers will be held responsible more strictly for failing to record some funds or falsifying statements in their political funds reports, the threshold for the disclosure of information on those who bought political fundraising party tickets will be lowered and a third-party organization will be established to check how lawmakers use the so-called policy activity funds they receive from their parties.
   Also enacted during the latest Diet session were the fiscal 2024 government budget, a bill to introduce a security clearance system for individuals who are allowed to handle important information related to economic security, a bill aimed at bolstering measures to tackle the country's declining birthrate and a bill to give the central government power to issue necessary instructions to local governments in the event of emergencies such as disasters and pandemics.
   Reflecting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's eagerness to achieve constitutional revision before his term as LDP president ends in September, the party aimed to propose the amendment during the ordinary Diet session. As the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and others remained cautious, however, the party only went as far as presenting at the Commission on the Constitution of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, an outline of a constitutional clause that would allow the Diet to extend the terms of its members in the event of an emergency such as a large-scale disaster.

(2024/06/24-00:55)

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