Japanese Parliament to convene extraordinary session next week

Tokyo, Sep 29 (IANS) Japan's Diet, the country's Parliament, will convene an extraordinary session next week, lawmakers have confirmed.

Japan's ruling and opposition parties agreed that the Diet will open an extraordinary session for 69 days from October 3 to December 10, according to the lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito.

The government said around 20 bills are scheduled to be submitted to the Diet during the upcoming session, including a second supplementary budget bill for the fiscal year through March 2023 to address rising food and energy prices and a revision of the infectious disease law to prepare for future pandemics, reports Xinhua news agency.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is likely to deliver a policy speech on the opening day of the extraordinary session on October 3, followed by questioning of his Cabinet by other party leaders.

Opposition parties have called on Kishida to explain the controversial religious organization's links with his ruling party lawmakers as well as the legal grounds for holding a state funeral for late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with taxpayers' money.