Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shelved a bill to cut lower house seats after opposition parties boycotted parliament. The move ended a gridlock following her coalition's February election win.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi withdrew a plan to cut 45 proportional representation seats in the House of Representatives. The decision followed a boycott by opposition parties that stalled Diet proceedings after her coalition's February election victory.
Tadashi Mori, a professor at Aichi Gakuin University, said the seat cut bill united virtually every opposition party. Masato Kamikubo of Ritsumeikan University described the boycott as the sole tactic left for parties facing reduced seats in a new election.
A June Kyodo News poll showed 46.1 percent of respondents saw a need to reduce lawmaker numbers quickly, while 49.1 percent did not. Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki stated there is no prospect of his party joining the coalition.