Diet may be dissolved if opposition blocks Iraq bill: Nakagawa

Japan Policy & Politics, July 22, 2003

HIROSHIMA, July 21 Kyodo

A key lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) warned Monday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may dissolve the Diet for a snap election if the opposition camp blocks its passage of a bill on Iraqi reconstruction.

''If they submit a barrage of non-confidence motions to scrap the important bill, Prime Minister Koizumi might have to seek a public judgment'' at the end of the current Diet session, said Hidenao Nakagawa, head of the LDP's Diet Affairs Committee, during a speech in Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture.

The current Diet session ends next Monday.

Nakagawa, a close aide to Koizumi, also said it is certain that the prime minister will dissolve the House of Representatives by the end of this year if he is reelected as LDP president in a party election in September.

''A Diet dissolution in the fall is highly possible,'' Nakagawa said, citing Koizumi's promise to pay attention to the interests of the New Komeito party, one of the LDP's two coalition partners.

The New Komeito party wants to avoid seeing a double election for the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors next year, which could take place if the lower house is not dissolved.