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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet formally announced on Friday the ruling coalition's plan to convene an extraordinary Diet session on September 28, the outset of which will likely see Abe dissolve the lower house for a snap election.
Japan's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, at a meeting of both chambers' steering committees announced the government's endorsement to disband the lower chamber of Japan's bicameral parliament.
The move has drawn staunch criticism from opposition parties..
They believe the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior Komeito party allying to approve the premier's plan to dissolve the lower house without making a policy speech is an attempt to bypass parliamentary debate.
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Seiji Maehara, took aim at the plan saying that the prime minister is not making a policy speech or allowing parliamentary deliberations is an act that ridicules the highest organ of state power.
Abe’s government is already facing plummeting popularity owing to a scandal over government approval process for a school building project.
On Thursday, the Democratic Party refused to attend steering committees of the lower and upper houses that were scheduled to hold board meetings, in protest of the ruling camp's bullish plan to dissolve the lower house.
The meetings were subsequently canceled.
(CGTN)
