Komeito's policy research council chairman, Nakanō, has argued that the Diet should debate a bill tightening rules on corporate and group donations before one cutting the number of lower house seats, in a challenge to Japan Innovation Party (Ishin) over the order of political reform.
Nakanō invoked Ishin's own positions from its time in opposition to press the party, which has since joined the governing coalition. Komeito has already submitted a bill with the Democratic Party for the People that would regulate the recipients of such donations, and the DPP has said the Diet should settle the corporate and group donation question first.
The order may not hold. The lower house special committee on political reform is expected to receive a bill cutting 31 seats, submitted jointly by the Liberal Democratic Party, Ishin and the DPP, which could push discussion of the donation bill back.
A Komeito executive said the donation bill would not be put to a vote in the lower house, where the governing bloc holds a large majority. The party intends to submit the bill in the upper house as well, where the coalition governs without a majority, in an attempt to move the debate forward.
Why the sequence matters
Both bills are framed as political reform, but they touch different things. Cutting seats changes the shape of the chamber. Regulating corporate and group donations changes who may give money to politicians, and how much. Putting the seat bill first lets the Diet deliver a reform that costs the governing parties less than donation limits would.