Opposition takes charge of Japanese upper house

JAPAN: An opposition lawmaker on Tuesday took the helm of Japan’s upper house of parliament for the first time in half a century after a crushing election defeat for the ruling party.

Satsuki Eda, a senior member of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party, took a deep bow when he was elected the new upper house speaker at the start of a special four-day session convened after the July 29 election.

“The composition of the upper house has changed dramatically. We are facing a political situation that we have never experienced before,” Eda said in his first address as speaker.

“I promise to give my all with all the staff of this chamber so that it will function and carry out its mission to respond to the hopes of the people,” he said.

The opposition party became the biggest force in the upper house and enjoys support on procedural matters from smaller leftist groups.

However, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party maintains a solid majority in the more powerful lower house which was not at stake in the election.

The conservative ruling party lost massively after a series of scandals including revelations of massive mismanagement of the pension system — a sensitive issue in a rapidly greying country.

The Liberal Democrats have been in power for all but 10 months since the party’s creation in 1955. It was the first time it was knocked out of the top spot in the upper house.

Tokyo, Tuesday, AFP.