The Japanese party leaders’ debate is extended to 80 minutes

Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties agreed Monday to hold a planned debate among party leaders in the Diet, Japan’s parliament, for 80 minutes instead of the standard length of 45 minutes.

The agreement was reached between the parliamentary affairs group leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the upper house of councilors and his counterpart in the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP). The state parliament will extend such a debate for the first time since February 2003.

The debate between LDP President and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the leaders of the opposition parties is scheduled for Wednesday, the last day of the current extraordinary state parliament session.

Meanwhile, the state parliamentary affairs chiefs of six parties – the LDP, its coalition partner Komeito, the CDP, Nippon Ishin no Kai, the Communist Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People – also held a meeting on Monday.

The opposition side demanded that the state parliament session be expanded to hold meetings of the budget committee. LDP faction leader Tetsushi Sakamoto later expressed a negative opinion in a conversation with reporters.