From: The Japan Times
Ruling bloc readies plenary vote, angering the opposition
by Ayako Mie
Staff Writer
The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition was
set to forcibly pass the contentious state secrecy bill into law as
early as Thursday night, after it rammed the legislation through the
Upper House Special Committee on National Security earlier on the day.
The chairman of the committee abruptly motioned for a vote on the
bill, and ruling bloc lawmakers voted, while opposition lawmakers tried
to block it by surrounding and shouting at him.
“The committee chairman did not even
mention we would vote on it when we had a meeting before the session,”
said Tetsuro Fukuyama, an Upper House member of the committee from the
Democratic Party of Japan. “Again they leveraged the power of numbers. I
am beyond angry.”
Opposition members of the committee had repeatedly demanded that the
ruling coalition not repeat the steamroller tactics it used in the Lower
House on Nov. 26 when they said the bill had not undergone enough
deliberations.
But the coalition said enough time was spent on the bill.
“The Lower House committee spent 22 hours in questioning the
government, while the Upper House spent 17 hours, or 76 percent of the
time . . . I think we did enough,” said Masahisa Sato, an LDP member of
the Upper House committee. Usually the House of Councilors spends 70
percent of the Lower House deliberation time on a bill.
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