Diet closed as Kan rejects opposition calls, election set on July 11

TOKYO, June 16 Kyodo -
The Japanese Diet ended its ordinary session Wednesday as the ruling coalition
of Prime Minister Naoto Kan rejected calls by opposition parties for an
extension of the session, in effect kicking off the campaigning for a crucial
upper house election next month.
Kan's Cabinet formally set July 11 as the date of the House of Councillors
election. The official campaigning period for the triennial election in which
half of the chamber's 242 seats will be up for grabs will begin June 24, when
hundreds of people are expected to file their candidacies with election boards.
Kan's Democratic Party of Japan and the main opposition Liberal Democratic
Party are expected to announce their election pledges Thursday.
The LDP and other opposition parties criticized the DPJ for rushing into the
election against the backdrop of high public support rates for the Cabinet,
which have bounced from the lows they reached for the Cabinet of Kan's
predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, who suddenly stepped down earlier this month.
During the 150-day session, which began Jan. 18, the Diet approved the nation's
budget for the current fiscal year through next March.
The government submitted a total of 63 new bills for deliberations but only saw
35 of them, or 55.6 percent, passed by the parliament -- the lowest rate under
the postwar Constitution.
Nonetheless, Kan said that a ''very crucial part'' of the legislative agenda
had been passed, referring to the policies that his party pledged in last
year's general election, including the introduction of monthly child-care
allowances and the waiving of senior high school tuition fees. ''I think it was
good,'' he told reporters.
''In addition, we increasingly saw signs of (Japan's) economic recovery during
this period as (the government) has introduced various measures,'' Kan also
said.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted down a no-confidence motion
against the Cabinet filed by the LDP, which expressed its unhappiness over the
way that the DPJ-led coalition has run the Diet.
The governing alliance, including the smaller People's New Party, maintains its
dominance in the powerful lower house.
The LDP, thrown out of power after its defeat in last year's general election,
submitted the motion with the aim of broadening its appeal to voters ahead of
the upcoming election, political observers say.
Opposition parties also submitted censure motions to the upper chamber against
Kan and national policy minister Satoshi Arai, who has admitted that his
now-defunct political organization inappropriately booked costs for comic book
purchases as official expenses.
But the motions failed even to be put to a vote as the ruling bloc refused to
accept a request by the opposition camp to hold a plenary meeting in the
chamber. It is rare the Diet ends a session without holding a plenary meeting.
Kan took office on June 8 after Hatoyama stepped down over such issues as
funding scandals involving himself and other DPJ lawmakers and the
controversial plan to relocate a U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture,
which resulted in the departure of the Social Democratic Party from the
coalition.
The opposition parties have called for an extension of the ordinary Diet
session, saying that Kan and his Cabinet must achieve ''accountability'' on
those issues.
They have increased pressure on Kan to dissolve the lower house and seek
voters' judgment in a snap election. But Kan rejected such a call on Wednesday.
''That's the furthest thing from my mind,'' he told reporters when asked about
the likelihood of holding the general election in the near future.
==Kyodo