Ruling and opposition parties have agreed to begin deliberations on bills tightening rules on corporate and group donations before a bill cutting the number of lower house seats, putting incumbents' funding rules ahead of the seat reductions the same parties have drafted.
The agreement was reached at a meeting of the directors of the special committee on political reform on the 10th. Deliberations on the donation bills will resume from the 13th.
Three bills submitted by ruling and opposition parties, including one from the Democratic Party for the People, remained under continued deliberation after the previous extraordinary Diet session. The bill from the Democratic Party for the People regulates the recipients of donations.
“We in the opposition have demanded that, before the proportional seat reduction, we firmly move forward the bills to strengthen the rules on political funds that were already under deliberation.”Ochiai, chairman of the policy research council of the Democratic Reform Association
A separate bill would cut 31 seats from the proportional representation bloc of the House of Representatives. The Liberal Democratic Party, Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People are finalizing it and plan to submit it to the Diet on the 12th.