Follow-Up: LDP Asks Ishiba and Three Other Walkout Lawmakers for Written Explanations by Nov 9, Will Decide Response
Tokyo — Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership has sent a written request to four of its own lawmakers who walked out before the November 6 House of Representatives vote, asking them to explain the facts and their reasons in writing, Kyodo News reported on November 7, citing several people familiar with the matter. The deadline for replies is November 9, and the leadership is expected to decide how to respond based on the answers.
The four are former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, former election strategy chief Yuko Obuchi, former Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa and former Economic Planning Agency director-general Hajime Funada. The lower house passed the food consumption tax cut bill on November 6, lowering the food tax rate from 8 percent to 1 percent for two years; the four left the chamber before the vote and did not vote in favour. Ishiba told reporters at the time that the bill's funding source was unclear, that it would damage public finances and that his concerns could not be dispelled.
Calls for disciplinary action surfaced within the government and the party immediately after the vote. Jiji Press reported on November 6 that a party figure criticised Ishiba's walkout as unacceptable for a former party president and argued for swift discipline to deter a repeat in the House of Councillors, where the coalition lacks a majority; a senior government official said there was unlikely to be no discipline at all. LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi said the bill was subject to party discipline and called the walkout very regrettable.
GSM previously reported the bill's passage and the walkout; this follow-up covers the party's internal procedure. (Source: Kyodo News)
Related:
Japan's Lower House Passes Food Tax Cut Bill as Ishiba and Three Other LDP Lawmakers Walk Out
Source: Kyodo News
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：日本前首相石破茂官方肖像（2024年，日本政府，CC BY 4.0），经Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Official portrait of former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (2024, Government of Japan, CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
