Ordinary Diet Session to End: Results Show Disadvantages of Minority Ruling Coalition

Editrial

16:44 JST, June 21, 2025

The minority ruling parties repeatedly made concessions out of a desire to obtain cooperation from opposition parties even though the effects of the resulting policy measures are not foreseeable.

At the same time, the opposition parties simply demanded the implementation of measures they pushed for, while leaving the task of securing funds for them entirely to the government.

As a result, priority was given to measures that appear to shift the burden to future generations, and tackling onerous and difficult issues was put off. Given this, it cannot be said that thorough discussions were held. The ruling and opposition parties alike should seriously reflect on such a situation.

The ordinary Diet session is set to end on June 22.

In recent years, a series of cyberattacks have targeted critical infrastructure such as in the power and financial sectors. It is laudable that legislation related to so-called active cyber defense, which is intended to prevent such attacks, has been enacted.

A bill on pension reform has also been enacted. It is insufficient because it defers consideration for five years regarding fundamental reform to enhance the basic pension program. However, it is significant that the parties have set the course for reform by increasing the number of part-time workers enrolled in the employees’ pension program to ensure stable pension finances.

On the other hand, measures strongly characterized by benefit handouts were also notable. The Liberal Democratic Party and its ruling coalition partner Komeito accepted the Japan Innovation Party’s demand for free high school tuition in exchange for its cooperation for this fiscal year’s budgets.

Local governments that have already implemented free high school education have seen adverse effects such as a decline in enrollment in public schools. It is difficult to say that sufficient consideration was given to the significance of allocating hundreds of billions of yen annually for making tuition free nationwide.

This fiscal year’s initial budget included a review of the high-cost medical care support system, which exists to reduce the financial burden on patients when medical expenses become high. However, the review was met with criticism from opposition parties and organizations of patients, forcing the government to eliminate the review from the budget.

The need to reduce rising medical expenses is unavoidable. To tackle this issue, it is necessary to promptly implement specific measures.

Toward the end of the Diet session, whether the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan would submit a no-confidence motion against the Cabinet became a focus. But CDPJ President Yoshihiko Noda decided not to submit it, citing the escalating situation in the Middle East and other issues as reasons.

The no-confidence motion could have been approved by a majority of the opposition parties, but it appears that the CDPJ was not well prepared for a House of Representatives election that could have ensued. Some members of other parties speculate the CDPJ has now left room for cooperation with the ruling bloc after the upcoming House of Councillors election.

A bill to scrap the provisional gasoline tax surcharge, jointly submitted by seven opposition parties, was approved by a majority of opposition party lawmakers in a lower house plenary session on June 20. The bill was then sent to the upper house. The ruling and opposition parties agreed to hold deliberations on the bill as early as the following day.

As the ruling parties have a majority of seats in the upper house, there is no prospect of the bill being enacted unless they support it. It can only be said that the move by the opposition parties is a performance in anticipation of the upper house election.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 21, 2025)