Japan’s House of Representatives Rejects No-Confidence Motion Against Kishida Cabinet; CDPJ Slams

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:30 JST, June 20, 2024

The House of Representatives rejected the no-confidence resolution put forward by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan against Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet on Thursday.

Opposition parties, including the Japan Innovation Party, the Japanese Communist Party and the Democratic Party for the People, voted in favor of the resolution, but it was rejected in the lower house plenary session by majority vote from the ruling parties.

A no-confidence motion was tabled against the Cabinet for the first time since December.

The CDPJ criticized Kishida’s stance on some of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s factions violating the Political Funds Control Law in the no-confidence motion, saying that he had failed to show leadership by not probing the matter further.

The party, which questioned Kishida’s political responsibility, called for the resignation of the entire Cabinet or the dissolution of the lower house, saying, “[The prime minister] is reluctant to make political reforms, and we cannot leave him in charge of the country any longer.”

Before the voting, CDPJ Diet Affairs Committee Chairperson Jun Azumi told reporters, “We’ll work hard to get the approval of the conscientious members of the LDP and Komeito to pass the no-confidence motion.”