LDP, JIP Give Up Passing Lower House Seat Reduction Bill for Now; Parties Are Expected to Try Again Next Year

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, December 16, 2025

The Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party agreed on Tuesday to abandon their efforts to pass a bill to reduce the number of House of Representatives seats during the current Diet session, government and party sources said. They are expected to instead try to pass it during next year’s regular Diet session.

The government and the ruling parties plan to allow the current session to end on Wednesday as scheduled, as they have no expectation of gaining support for the bill from opposition parties even if they were to extend it.

Prime Minister and LDP President Sanae Takaichi and Osaka Gov. and JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura held a meeting Tuesday to reach the agreement.

The two parties jointly submitted the bill on Dec. 5, but the House of Representatives Special Committee on Political Reform is currently deliberating a bill to review corporate and group donations, leaving no clear opportunity for the seat reduction bill to enter deliberation. Opposition parties, including the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, oppose the “automatic reduction clause,” which would cut a total of 45 seats if a conclusion is not reached within in a year. The government and ruling parties decided that it would be difficult to get the opposition to agree to start deliberations on the bill.

The House of Councillors Budget Committee on Monday concluded questioning on the fiscal 2025 supplementary budget proposal, which underpins the government’s comprehensive economic measures.