Japanese parliament votes down no-confidence motion
The Japanese parliament today voted down a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government submitted by four opposition parties over staged public hearings and other policies.
The motion at the lower house was apparently a last-ditch tactic to delay an education bill intended to boost patriotism in classrooms. It was easily voted down because Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner dominate both houses of parliament.
Though failed, the attempt by the Democratic Party of Japan and three other opposition parties at least forced the ruling party to agree to extend the parliamentary session, initially scheduled to end today, for another four days, to further discuss the bill.
The motion also delayed a scheduled vote at the weaker upper house on education reform and another key bill that would upgrade the defence agency to a full ministry.
The no-confidence motion also follows an embarrassing scandal involving a series of staged “town meetings” on educational and legal reform.
On Wednesday a commission found that government officials posed as members of the public or paid regular citizens to ask questions at a series of meetings.
“Shame on you! Is my reaction when I first read the report about the staged town meetings,” DPJ leader Naoto Kan told parliament Friday after calling for the no-confidence vote. “Ironically, much of the discussion at the town meetings involved education issues.”
Opposition parties have seized on the scandal as a way to block the proposed reform of Japan’s 1947 education law, a change that would call on schools to teach “love of country” and “public spirit” in a bid to stem academic and disciplinary decline.
Critics call the move reminiscent of Japan’s pre-1945 education system, in which children were encouraged to sacrifice themselves for the emperor and nation.
Government officials brushed off the challenge.
“I believe the Abe government has carefully dealt with each important bill, of which they were many,” during the parliamentary session, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters today. “I look forward to a vote of confidence from parliament.”
Aso, meanwhile, has enraged the opposition and even those within the LDP by suggesting Japan should discuss developing a nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against a nuclear North Korea.
“Abe neglected the foreign minister’s remarks and has never reprimanded him,” DPJ’s Kan told parliament. “We cannot place our confidence in Prime Minister Abe, who has no leadership over his Cabinet members.”
Abe said he decided to extend the parliamentary session “to ensure the definite passage of the important bills”.
