New Komeito expects 'midsize coalition' after next general election

Nov 27 06:26 AM US/Eastern

FUKUOKA, Nov. 27 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The No. 2 leader of the New Komeito party, Toshiko Hamayotsu, proposed Tuesday forming a "midsize coalition" among her party, its current coalition partner, the Liberal Democratic Party, and part of the current opposition camp after the next general election for the House of Representatives that is to be called by July 2009.

"It is desirable to launch a midsize coalition among groups sharing policy ideas after the next general election" to form a new majority in the House of Councillors that has been controlled by the opposition camp after last July's upper house election, Hamayotsu said in a speech in Fukuoka City.

Hamayotsu, the party's acting chief representative, used the term "midsize coalition" apparently considering the failed "grand coalition" plan which Prime Minister and LDP President Yasuo Fukuda discussed earlier this year with Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition party which is the largest party in the second chamber.

Hamayotsu's "midsize coalition" proposal is seen to mean a coalition among the LDP, the New Komeito party, and some lawmakers of opposition parties, including the DPJ.

She said she expects the lower house to be dissolved for a general election after the Group of Eight summit at the Lake Toya resort in Hokkaido next July 7 to 9.

But the general election cannot topple the opposition control of the upper house, requiring political parties to pursue a fresh coalition framework, she said.

Hamayotsu remained cautious toward a proposed passing a second time in the lower chamber of a bill aimed at resuming Japan's refueling mission for ships of multinational forces in the Indian Ocean. Voters "might regard it as a railroading of the bill," she said.

Under constitutional rules, a bill which is passed by the House of Representatives but voted down by the House of Councillors becomes law when passed a second time by the lower house by a majority of two- thirds or more. The LDP-led coalition currently controls a more than two-thirds majority there.