ニュース 2010/03/19 First meeting of Manifesto Planning Committee held On March 19, the first meeting of the Manifesto Planning Committee (tentative translation) was held with a view to drafting the Manifesto for the forthcoming House of Councillors election. At the start of the meeting, Senior Vice Secretary General Yoshimitsu Takashima addressed the assembled members, saying, “The Manifesto which we created as an opposition party for the last general election was subjected to the judgement of the people and served as a catalyst for a change of government. The administration bears the responsibility for faithfully and steadily implementing this Manifesto, but it is our greatest mission to scrutinize the Manifesto created during our time in opposition from the perspective of the ruling party, and to determine what path we need to take in order for it to be implemented.” Furthermore, Takashima revealed that DPJ President, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, as head of the Platform for Government Committee (tentative translation) had appointed as heads of the three study groups established under the Manifesto Planning Committee, the following members of the House of Representatives: Kansei Nakano (people’s livelihoods), Akihiro Ohata (growth/regional strategy) and Koichiro Gemba (decentralization/regulatory reform). He also announced that Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Seiji Osaka would be participating in the Manifesto Planning Committee on behalf of the government. Following this, Minister of State for National Policy Yoshihito Sengoku addressed the meeting on behalf of the government, saying, “The most important thing is for this historic Hatoyama Cabinet and administration to establish how to gain the trust of the people from the perspective of “Putting People’s Lives First”, and win the House of Councillors election.” Following the meeting, Chair of the Organisation Committee and the Corporate and External Organisations Committee Goshi Hosono told reporters, “We have more or less reached an agreement on the process by which the Manifesto will be created from now on. We will receive proposals from the study groups, and potentially from the Diet member policy committees and from the Political Reform Promotion Headquarters, and revise these proposals in the Manifesto Planning Committee.” He added, “The deadline for submission of these various proposals will be May 10 at the latest, and having received them, the Manifesto Planning Committee will carry out revisions, and draw up a draft Manifesto, submit this to the Platform for Government Committee at the end of May, and thus come up with a final proposal.” Hosono said that the composition of the Platform for Government Committee had been formally decided, and announced that it would consist of the following members: “The Chair will be Prime Minister Hatoyama. The eight members of the committee will be Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, Acting Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi, Diet Affairs Committee Chair Kenji Yamaoka, and Senior Vice Secretary General Yoshimitsu Takashima for the party and Prime Minister Hatoyama, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, and Minister of State for National Policy Yoshihito Sengoku for the administration.” The next meeting of the Manifesto Planning Committee is to be scheduled sometime around the latter half of next week.