The ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed Thursday that a House of Representatives council on the electoral system include a plan to reduce the number of seats in the lower chamber of parliament in future discussions.

The LDP¡¯s Keisuke Suzuki, who chairs the council, made the proposal at the panel¡¯s first meeting since February¡¯s election for the lower chamber of the Diet, the country¡¯s parliament, as the ruling coalition aims to cut the number of Lower House seats by 10%.

Suzuki also said that the council should aim to consolidate opinions by next month.

At the meeting, the LDP¡¯s Junji Hasegawa said that the ruling bloc secured a landslide victory in the February election by pledging to reduce the number of Lower House seats.

Ryuna Kanemura, acting secretary-general of the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the coalition partner of the LDP, said, ¡°It¡¯s logical to discuss (a seat cut plan) at the council.¡±

Meanwhile, the Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) and other opposition parties, wary of a possible reduction in proportional representation seats, called for a seat cut plan to be discussed in tandem with electoral reform.

The council began discussions in January 2025, focusing on an ideal election system and possible revisions and improvements to the current system.

Reducing the number of Lower House seats is a signature policy for the JIP, also known as Nippon Ishin no Kai, and was included in its coalition agreement with the LDP.

In last year¡¯s extraordinary Diet session, the ruling bloc submitted a bill to reduce 45 seats from the Lower House, but it was strongly opposed by opposition parties and scrapped following the dissolution of the chamber for a snap general election.

¡°We won¡¯t reject the discussion itself, but we firmly oppose the heavy-handed method of discussing a seat reduction as a predetermined outcome,¡± Hiromasa Nakano of the CRA said.

¡°(Discussions on) the number of seats are inseparable from those on the electoral system,¡± Nakano continued. ¡°It should be discussed together with reform of the entire system, including on vote-value disparities.¡±

¡°The chair alone cannot decide whether a reduction of the number of seats will be discussed,¡± Motohisa Furukawa of the Democratic Party for the People said.

Sanseito, Team Mirai and the Japanese Communist Party also opposed the seat reduction plan. The council could not decide whether to debate the topic in future meetings, and decided to leave the issue up to its board.