TOKYO: The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan plans to submit a no-confidence motion against the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on June 19 at the earliest, party sources said Tuesday.

By submitting the motion to the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, the CDP hopes to clarify its confrontational stance against Kishida amid mounting public criticism over his handling of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s “slush fund” scandal.

The move is also aimed at building momentum for the upcoming Tokyo gubernatorial election and the next general election.

CDP Secretary-General Katsuya Okada told a press conference Tuesday that the party believes the LDP’s political reform efforts are insufficient. “The prime minister (and his cabinet) should resign en masse, or if he cannot do that, he should dissolve (the Lower House),” Okada said.

The CDP is focusing on a parliamentary debate among party leaders to set the stage for a no-confidence motion. The ruling and opposition camps are preparing to hold such a debate on June 19, ahead of the June 23 end of the ongoing Diet session. The leaders’ debate would be the first in about three years.

Meanwhile, the LDP is aiming to enact a bill to revise the political funds control law on June 19. In the possible debate on that day, CDP chief Kenta Izumi is expected to directly ask the prime minister whether he will accept a proposed ban on political donations by corporations and organizations and whether he will soon dissolve the Lower House for a general election.

As Kishida is expected to refuse both, the CDP plans to then submit a no-confidence motion to rally public support.

The following day, June 20, the official campaign period for the July 7 Tokyo gubernatorial election begins. The CDP hopes to make the race a de facto showdown between the ruling and opposition camps.

“We aim to put the no-confidence motion and the Tokyo gubernatorial election at the center of political news,” a senior CDP official said.

It remains to be seen whether Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People will support a CDP-sponsored no-confidence motion, as the two major opposition parties have often set themselves apart from the CDP.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Nippon Ishin leader Nobuyuki Baba hinted at the possibility of backing the CDP’s no-confidence motion, given the LDP’s reluctance to reform the current system of providing research, public relations and accommodation allowances to lawmakers.

“If the inter-party promise is not kept, distrust in the Kishida cabinet and the LDP will be at its peak,” Baba said. “In that case, we will make a reasonable response.”

Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the DPFP, said at a press conference that the LDP’s political funds control law revision bill is inadequate, and that he will make a final decision based on deliberations on the legislation in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Communist Party is likely to support the CDP’s no-confidence motion, with its leader, Tomoko Tamura, arguing that Kishida has taken the lead in trying to draw a curtain over the slush fund scandal.

JIJI Press