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On January 24, the 544th meeting of the DPJ Standing Officers Council was held inside the Diet building.
At the start of the meeting, DPJ Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi referred to comments made by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in his policy speech to the Diet that had been made that day, saying, “This is a make or break Diet session, but I would like us to maintain an awareness of our responsibility as the ruling party and to overcome the problems we face one by one by [the scheduled end of the Diet session on] June 21. He went on to report that in the reshuffle of the party executive that had taken place following the Cabinet reshuffle, member of the House of Representatives Kenji Yamaoka had been appointed as Vice President, member of the House of Representatives Hideo Hiraoka as Administration Committee Chair (a position that includes responsibility for overseeing international affairs), member of the House of Councillors Minoru Yanagida as Central President’s Election Committee Chair, member of the House of Councillors Chiaki Takahashi as Auditor, Member of the House of Councillors Yuichi Fujimoto as Ethics Committee member, member of the House of Councillors Yasuo Ichikawa as Secretary General of the DPJ Caucus in the House of Councillors, member of the House of Representatives Katsumasa Suzuki as Deputy Secretary General, member of the House of Councillors Koji Matsui as Chief Vice Secretary General, and member of the House of Representatives Seiji Osaka as Senior Vice Secretary General. He also reported that Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada would continue to serve as Supreme Advisor of the party.
Acting Secretary General Shinji Tarutoko proposed that the ten Diet members led by Akira Uchiyama who had submitted their resignations to the DPJ and formed a new party at the end of last year should be officially expelled from the party and this proposal was approved. This was put into effect in accordance with the party’s ethics regulations, after hearing the opinion of the Ethics Committee (Chaired by Toshimi Kitazawa). Similarly, the application for resignation made by member of the House of Representatives Masaki Nakajima, who had left the party to become an independent, was accepted.
Election Campaign Chair Yoshiaki Takaki proposed that Masaki Amano be unofficially approved as the DPJ candidate for the vacant Aichi No. 6 constituency in the House of Representatives and this proposal was approved.
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