After months of turmoil over a snap election, opposition realignment and stalled legislative progress, this year’s regular Diet session was scheduled to kick off Monday.
After months of turmoil over a snap election, opposition realignment and stalled legislative progress, this year’s regular Diet session was scheduled to kick off Monday.
The five-month-long process will see the nation’s lawmakers discuss a slew of important bills in detail for the first time since the end of last year’s ordinary session in June. A fall session of the legislature, convened in September, lasted just a few minutes after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hustled to dissolve it by calling a snap election. A monthlong special Diet session convened soon after the October election came no nearer to discussing any bill of political significance, with the opposition bloc focused primarily on dredging up cronyism scandals leveled at Abe. The session will also play an important role in rebooting long-stalled debate on revising the nation’s postwar Constitution.
