(Update) Japan Lower House Dismisses Panel Chair for 1st Time

   Tokyo, June 18 (Jiji Press)--Japan's House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, passed a motion Wednesday to dismiss Tatsunori Ibayashi of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as chairman of its Financial Affairs Committee.
   At a Lower House plenary meeting, the motion was approved by a vote of 237 to 221, with support from opposition parties including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People.
   According to the Lower House, it was the first time that a motion to dismiss a standing committee chairman had been approved under the current Constitution.
   The latest move came amid a confrontation between opposition parties advocating for the abolition of the provisional gasoline tax surcharge, effective July 1, and the ruling parties opposed to the measure, ahead of the election of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, this summer.
   Later on Wednesday, the Lower House voted to appoint CDP lawmaker Yukihiko Akutsu as the new chairman of the committee. The ruling bloc's candidate, former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi of the LDP, was defeated.

(2025/06/18-20:27)