Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), said at a party meeting on July 22 that he has instructed policy chief Kazuhiko Shigetoku to begin talks with other opposition parties to quickly reintroduce a bill to eliminate the temporary gasoline tax. This move comes after the ruling coalition lost its majority in the recent upper house election. Noda said, "Cooperation with other opposition parties is crucial now. We must start discussing the content and strategy of the bill right away."
Previously, seven opposition parties submitted a similar bill to end the tax starting July 1. It passed in the lower house but was blocked by the ruling party in the upper house and was ultimately scrapped.
Noda criticized the Ishiba administration, noting that the ruling party has lost three major elections in a row—including last year's lower house election and June's Tokyo assembly election—saying, "They don’t have the people’s trust, and we will strongly confront them."
He also reflected on his own party’s poor performance in the upper house election, saying they struggled in multi-member districts and failed to gain support from unaffiliated voters.
by MagazineKey4532