The opposition is calling for a debate on the Ishiba policy before the lower house is dissolved

Japanese opposition parties have agreed to call on ruling parties to adequately consult on the policies of Ishiba Shigeru’s new government before dissolving the lower house for a general election.

Ishiba was elected president of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday. He will form his new cabinet after being elected Japan’s 102nd prime minister in an extraordinary session of the Diet in both chambers on Tuesday.

Ishiba is preparing to dissolve the lower house on October 9th. Voting on the resulting elections is expected to take place on October 27th.

On Monday, the heads of the opposition parties for state parliamentary affairs, including the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Japan Innovation Party, the Communist Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People and Reiwa Shinsengumi, met.

They said Ishiba’s policies should be adequately deliberated in the Budget Committees of both Houses of Parliament before the dissolution of the House of Commons.

The opposition parties also agreed to call on the government to prepare a supplementary budget draft for discussion in the extraordinary state parliament session. This would help the earthquake-hit Noto region, which was also recently hit by heavy rains.

Opposition leaders in the state parliament reiterated that they will again call on LDP members suspected of falsifying political funds reports to testify before the political ethics panel if they have not already done so.