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165057
Tue, 03/01/2011 - 17:48
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https://www.oananews.org//node/165057
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DPJ to punish anti-Kan members after boycotting of Diet budget vote
TOKYO, March 1 Kyodo - The Democratic Party of Japan decided Tuesday to punish 16 lawmakers who abstained from voting in parliament on the fiscal 2010 budget proposed by the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
The ruling party plans to suspend the party membership of Koichiro Watanabe, regarded as the leader of the rebellion, for six months, and reprimand the 15 other lower house members.
The DPJ took the decision at a meeting of party executives in the afternoon, after the 16 lawmakers, who launched a revolt in mid-February calling for Kan to resign, acted against the party line by skipping a vote on the budget during a plenary session of the House of Representatives.
The abstentions did not block approval of the budget by the lower house in the early hours of Tuesday, which cleared the way for its enactment in time for the start of the new fiscal year on April 1.
But the lawmakers' defiance provided further evidence of Kan's weakening grip on the DPJ as he faces mounting pressure to resign or call a general election from opposition lawmakers.
The decision not to suspend the party membership of all 16 lower house members appears to reflect the DPJ's concern over triggering their departure from the party.
The 16 lawmakers -- almost all of them elected for the first time in 2009 -- are seen as loyal to former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa, who was indicted in late January over a funds scandal.
The DPJ leadership decided last week to suspend Ozawa's party membership until his trial is over. The 16 and many other DPJ lawmakers are unhappy with Ozawa's punishment.
In protest at Kan's stance toward Ozawa, Kenko Matsuki, one of the closest lawmakers to the power broker, resigned from a senior government post on Thursday.
In a related development, Ozawa, who has denied any wrongdoing, filed a complaint Tuesday with the DPJ's decision-making body, the Standing Officers Council, over the punishment. But the party leadership is widely seen as unlikely to overturn the decision.
The disciplinary action against Watanabe will be finalized as early as next Tuesday after the party's ethics panel holds a hearing for him, according to DPJ lawmakers.
Kan told reporters in the evening that he believes the DPJ's punishment will provide them with ''a good opportunity'' to reflect on their behavior as ruling party lawmakers.
The 16 lawmakers told the party leadership on Feb. 17 that they would leave the DPJ-led parliamentary group in the lower house and form a new one. But the leadership has refused to allow them to leave the group.
Kan is struggling to secure a two-thirds majority in the lower house by securing the cooperation of opposition parties for the passage of bills needed to completely implement the record 92.41 trillion yen budget for the year starting April.
If the 16 lawmakers do not vote in favor of the budget-related bills, parliamentary passage of the bills will be even less likely.
The lawmakers told a news conference they will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss future action and declined to comment on whether they will back the bills.
Watanabe said, ''Basically, we strongly feel that the leadership has not understood our thoughts well.''
Ozawa, who ran in the DPJ presidential election in September last year but lost to Kan, was indicted on Jan. 31 by a court-appointed team of lawyers for his alleged involvement in false reporting by his Rikuzankai political fund management body.
Ozawa is credited with engineering the DPJ's election landslide victory in August 2009 that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Ozawa's trial is expected to begin as early as around September.
Prosecutors charged three of Ozawa's former secretaries with violating the Political Funds Control Law for allegedly falsifying Rikuzankai's political funds reports. But they did not indict Ozawa, citing a lack of evidence.
The court-appointed team of three lawyers filed criminal charges against Ozawa after an independent judicial panel decided twice that he should be indicted.
The ruling party plans to suspend the party membership of Koichiro Watanabe, regarded as the leader of the rebellion, for six months, and reprimand the 15 other lower house members.
The DPJ took the decision at a meeting of party executives in the afternoon, after the 16 lawmakers, who launched a revolt in mid-February calling for Kan to resign, acted against the party line by skipping a vote on the budget during a plenary session of the House of Representatives.
The abstentions did not block approval of the budget by the lower house in the early hours of Tuesday, which cleared the way for its enactment in time for the start of the new fiscal year on April 1.
But the lawmakers' defiance provided further evidence of Kan's weakening grip on the DPJ as he faces mounting pressure to resign or call a general election from opposition lawmakers.
The decision not to suspend the party membership of all 16 lower house members appears to reflect the DPJ's concern over triggering their departure from the party.
The 16 lawmakers -- almost all of them elected for the first time in 2009 -- are seen as loyal to former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa, who was indicted in late January over a funds scandal.
The DPJ leadership decided last week to suspend Ozawa's party membership until his trial is over. The 16 and many other DPJ lawmakers are unhappy with Ozawa's punishment.
In protest at Kan's stance toward Ozawa, Kenko Matsuki, one of the closest lawmakers to the power broker, resigned from a senior government post on Thursday.
In a related development, Ozawa, who has denied any wrongdoing, filed a complaint Tuesday with the DPJ's decision-making body, the Standing Officers Council, over the punishment. But the party leadership is widely seen as unlikely to overturn the decision.
The disciplinary action against Watanabe will be finalized as early as next Tuesday after the party's ethics panel holds a hearing for him, according to DPJ lawmakers.
Kan told reporters in the evening that he believes the DPJ's punishment will provide them with ''a good opportunity'' to reflect on their behavior as ruling party lawmakers.
The 16 lawmakers told the party leadership on Feb. 17 that they would leave the DPJ-led parliamentary group in the lower house and form a new one. But the leadership has refused to allow them to leave the group.
Kan is struggling to secure a two-thirds majority in the lower house by securing the cooperation of opposition parties for the passage of bills needed to completely implement the record 92.41 trillion yen budget for the year starting April.
If the 16 lawmakers do not vote in favor of the budget-related bills, parliamentary passage of the bills will be even less likely.
The lawmakers told a news conference they will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss future action and declined to comment on whether they will back the bills.
Watanabe said, ''Basically, we strongly feel that the leadership has not understood our thoughts well.''
Ozawa, who ran in the DPJ presidential election in September last year but lost to Kan, was indicted on Jan. 31 by a court-appointed team of lawyers for his alleged involvement in false reporting by his Rikuzankai political fund management body.
Ozawa is credited with engineering the DPJ's election landslide victory in August 2009 that ended more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.
Ozawa's trial is expected to begin as early as around September.
Prosecutors charged three of Ozawa's former secretaries with violating the Political Funds Control Law for allegedly falsifying Rikuzankai's political funds reports. But they did not indict Ozawa, citing a lack of evidence.
The court-appointed team of three lawyers filed criminal charges against Ozawa after an independent judicial panel decided twice that he should be indicted.
