TOKYO: The House of Representatives was dissolved at a plenary meeting of the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, Japan’s parliament, Thursday afternoon.

At the opening of the plenary meeting from 1 p.m. (4 a.m. GMT), Lower House Speaker Tadamori Oshima read out an Imperial rescript for the dissolution, which was decided at a cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

After the breakup, the government will formalize at an extraordinary cabinet meeting its decision to hold a Lower House election on Oct. 31, with the official campaign period starting Tuesday.

The last Lower House general election took place in October 2017.

The terms of the current members of the lower chamber were to expire on Oct. 21. It will be the first time in the country’s postwar history for a Lower House general election to take place after the term expiration date.

The breakup will come 10 days after the prime minister’s inauguration, and the election will be held 17 days after the dissolution, both the shortest since the end of World War II.

JIJI Press