Nippon Ishin sees major progress in coalition talks with LDP

"We made great progress," Nippon Ishin co-leader Fumitake Fujita told reporters after the meeting with LDP President Sanae Takaichi.

"We're making final arrangements over wording and interpretations" on a set of policy proposals from Nippon Ishin to the LDP, Fujita said, indicating that the two parties are getting closer to striking a deal. LDP policy chief Takayuki Kobayashi, who attended Friday's talks, expressed a similar view.

Takaichi has proposed giving Nippon Ishin a cabinet position if she becomes Japan's new prime minister.

The focal point is whether the LDP will accept Nippon Ishin's demands to tighten restrictions on political donations by companies and organisations, lower the consumption tax rate to zero for food and reduce the number of lawmakers.

The LDP is coordinating to accept a reduction in the Diet's members, informed sources said.

Nippon Ishin has also called for the realisation of its "second capital" vision and social security reform.

After Friday's talks, Fujita said that the two sides were "not yet in a situation that guarantees (a deal)." The two parties hope to reach an agreement by Tuesday, when the parliamentary vote to elect the next prime minister will be held.

Nippon Ishin considers a reduction in the Diet's membership to be a nonnegotiable condition for joining forces with the LDP. Speaking on television, Fujita revealed that the LDP suggested it would not completely reject the proposal.

Separately speaking on television before Friday's Takaichi-Fujita meeting, Nippon Ishin chief Hirofumi Yoshimura said his party will not agree to a tie-up if the LDP fails to offer assurances that the number of lawmakers would be reduced by the end of this year. "We'll aim to realise (the reduction) during the upcoming extraordinary Diet session, or in other words, by the end of this year," Yoshimura said.

Meanwhile, Fujita said that Nippon Ishin will end its talks with the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People regarding the upcoming prime minister election.

"We've found that it is no longer possible to pursue a (cooperation) framework with other opposition parties," Fujita said, indicating that his party is considering voting for Takaichi.

DPFP chief Yuichiro Tamaki said, "There's no point in working with the CDP if Nippon Ishin is no longer in the picture."

Despite CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda's call for opposition parties to unite behind a single candidate in the prime minister election, Tamaki said his party will now vote for him.

Also on Friday, Noda and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito held talks on proposals to tighten rules on political donations from corporate and other organisations, as well as measures against rising prices.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]