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On March 2, DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa spoke with reporters inside the Diet building. He told them that he had met with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama earlier that same day, and that they had discussed the establishment of a discussion forum between the ruling and opposition parties regarding the revision of the Political Funding Control Law, the way in which the various policy committee meeting should be conducted, the drafting of a Manifesto for the upcoming House of Councillors election and the selection of the first batch of party candidates for that election.
Ozawa first referred to the question of political fund management, reporting that Prime Minister Hatoyama had instructed him to work to establish a forum for discussions between the ruling and opposition parties in order to move toward prohibiting funding from corporations and organizations, and to come up with a draft proposal on this issue as soon as possible. Ozawa commented, “The leader of New Komeito also actively called for the establishment of a discussion forum during the head-to-head debate between the party leaders, and so I would like to create such a forum as soon as possible and to hammer out a proposal toward prohibiting donations from corporations and organizations.” He revealed that this plan had been approved in a meeting of the party executive that had just taken place.
With regard to policy committees, Ozawa said, “Each ministry has been hosting these as forums in which anyone can take part and express their opinion, but they are not functioning properly.” He added, “If the policy committees were to be administered in a more meaningful way, this would likely erase the frustration within the party, and so the Office of the Secretary General and the Cabinet Secretariat have been discussing this issue, and aiming to administer the meetings so that they fulfill their original objective.”
Following this, Ozawa commented on the drafting of the Manifesto, reporting that Hatoyama had asked him to create a forum for this, with participation from both the party and the administration, and to embark on the creation of a draft as soon as possible. Ozawa added he had told the Prime Minister that he wanted to announce the first batch of official DPJ candidates for the House of Councillors election either tomorrow or the day after, and expressed his intention of launching a election campaign headquarters with Hatoyama as Chair following the announcement of the candidates.
Ozawa was asked for his thoughts on the approval of the budget for fiscal 2010 in the Committee on Budget and the plenary session of the House of Representatives and the passing of the legislation by the lower house that same day. He responded, “The fact that the Diet, in the recognition that in the current economic climate the budget needed to be passed as soon as possible, will enact the legislation within the current fiscal year, is just what the Japanese people have been hoping for.”
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