Opposition parties wary of reduction in prime minister's attendance at extraordinary Diet session, focus on ruling party-led parliamentary reform

Ahead of the extraordinary Diet session scheduled to be convened on October 5, opposition parties are raising concerns that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's attendance at the Diet could be reduced by the ruling party. This is because the ruling party holds three-quarters of the seats in the House of Representatives, and members such as Hideki Murai, chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Committee on Country Relations, who were selected in the current election of executive officers, are calling for parliamentary reform with a focus on "improving efficiency."

Is Diet management tilted toward the Prime Minister's office taking over? Opposition parties are on guard after Murai's appointment

"I'm worried." On the 25th, Yuichi Goto, who was appointed as the chairman of the country affairs committee of the new party Democratic Reform Party, had his first meeting with Murai in the Diet, and warned him not to proceed with ``excessive reforms.'' This is because Mr. Murai had been ``spreading'' an online article on X (formerly Twitter) about a private think tank's recommendation that the prime minister's attendance at committee meetings should, in principle, be unnecessary.

Murai gave an explanation to reporters about the spread, saying, ``I hope those who are interested can see it. Nothing more, nothing less.'' However, opposition parties remain wary, saying they have seen Murai's true intentions.

Behind the opposition's concerns is that Murai has long advocated that ``the prime minister should spend more time on policy decisions and diplomacy than on the Diet.'' There is a strong view that Murai, who has no experience in the Cabinet, was appointed as the head of government affairs because the Prime Minister, who dislikes the Diet, hoped that he would reduce the number of opportunities for questioning.

In fact, on the 18th, two days after taking office, Murai met with Japan Restoration Party Chairman Takakuni Endo and quickly confirmed that he would promote greater efficiency in the Diet. On the 24th, Mr. Endo asked for the cooperation of Motohisa Furukawa, chairman of the Democratic Party of the People's Democratic Party of Japan, to compile concrete measures for parliamentary reform during an extraordinary session of the Diet, and to agree on a schedule for implementation during next year's regular session of the Diet.

During the recent special Diet session, the prime minister was often reluctant to attend, and only attended nine sessions, lasting 32 hours and 36 minutes, in the House of Representatives' budget committee. That's less than half of former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's 18 meetings, 90 hours and six minutes, in the 2025 regular Diet session.