Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi acknowledges passage of the fiscal 2026 budget in the Lower House plenary session on March 13. (Hikaru Uchida)

EDITORIAL: Ramrodding budget a blow to parliamentary democracy

（社説）予算案通過強行　議会政治　傷つける暴挙

The ruling parties used the power of numbers of its gigantic coalition to robustly pass the fiscal 2026 budget while dismissing the arguments of the opposition out of hand.

This demonstrates the arrogant stance of the government treating the Diet, the highest organ of state power, as nothing more than a subcontracting agency.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi bears an extremely heavy responsibility for deeply damaging Japan’s parliamentary democracy.

The record 122 trillion yen ($764 billion) fiscal 2026 budget was railroaded through the Lower House without sufficient deliberations.

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) passed the budget despite all the opposition parties voting against it.

Deliberations in the Lower House Budget Committee totaled 59 hours, the shortest time since 2000, falling below the 66 hours and 30 minutes in 2007 during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s first stint.

Subcommittee sessions in which detailed deliberations are held for separate policy areas were not held for the first time in 37 years.

Because the opposition did not consent to the strong-armed Diet management, Tetsushi Sakamoto, the LDP lawmaker who chairs the Lower House Budget Committee, used his authority to set the schedule.

This was because Takaichi insisted on passing the budget by the end of the current fiscal year on March 31 even though her decision to dissolve the Lower House at the start of the ordinary Diet session and hold snap elections delayed the start of deliberations by about one month.

Another alternative would have been to compile a provisional budget to limit the effects on the daily lives of the people, but to also seek thorough debate.

But Takaichi apparently does not understand the significance of fiscal democracy in which the Diet as representatives of the people takes the time to examine the budget to make a judgment on its appropriateness.

She also did not demonstrate a stance of fulfilling her responsibility to explain policy by standing in the forefront of the deliberations.

There were only two sessions for concentrated deliberations that she attended. The 11 total hours of those sessions was the shortest of the past decade and only about one-third of the 32 hours last year under then Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba who led a minority ruling coalition.

In a campaign speech in the recent Lower House election, Takaichi openly expressed dissatisfaction at being the only one asked to answer questions in the Diet.

Behind the shortening of deliberation time may have been her desire to not face the questioning of the opposition.

After the LDP’s landslide win in that election, Takaichi said she had gained the support of the people for a major policy change.

But she should not be allowed to continue with such roughhouse tactics on policy areas that could divide national opinion.

The budget deliberations that will now start in the Upper House will be very important. We expect the chamber to demonstrate its raison d’etre as the organ of reconsideration.

The ruling coalition remains in the minority in the Upper House.

The posture and capability of the opposition parties will be called into question over whether they can fulfill the role of cooperating and serving as a check on the administration.

In concluding her first policy speech in the Diet last autumn, Takaichi touched upon the 17-article Constitution written up by Prince Shotoku in the seventh century.

She expressed her intent to emphasize discussions by many people, noting that politics was not about unilateral decisions, but was an act of talking together, agonizing together and deciding together.

We hope that she has not forgotten that vow because the ruling coalition is no longer in the minority in the Lower House.

We call on her to respond with civil deliberations in the Upper House rather than a stance of seeking an exit from the very beginning.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 15

野党の主張を一顧だにせず、巨大与党の「数の力」で遮二無二押し通す。国権の最高機関である国会を下請けのように扱う政権の姿は傲慢（ごうまん）そのものである。日本の議会制民主主義を深く傷つけた高市首相の責任は極めて重い。
　一般会計の総額が過去最大の１２２兆円超にのぼる新年度当初予算案は、吟味が尽くされぬまま採決が強行され、全野党が反対するなか、自民党と日本維新の会などの賛成多数で衆院を通過した。
　衆院予算委員会での審議時間は５９時間と、２００７年の第１次安倍政権の６６時間３０分を下回り、００年以降で最短となった。分野別に詳細な審議を行う「分科会」は３７年ぶりに一度も開かれなかった。
　強引な議事運営は、野党の同意が得られないため、自民党の坂本哲志委員長が職権を連発して決めた。首相が通常国会冒頭の衆院解散で審議入りを約１カ月遅れさせておきながら、３月末までの年度内成立に固執しているためだ。
　国民生活への影響を抑えるため、暫定予算を組んで「熟議」と両立させる道もあった。国民の代表である国会が時間をかけて精査し、是非を判断するという財政民主主義の意義を、首相は理解していないというほかない。
　自ら先頭に立って、説明責任を果たそうという姿勢も感じられなかった。首相出席の集中審議は２回だけで、計１１時間は過去１０年で最短だ。少数与党だった石破政権下の昨年の３２時間に比べると、３分の１ほどしかない。
　首相は衆院選の遊説中、国会で自分ばかりが答弁を求められると、あからさまに不満を漏らしていた。審議時間の短縮には、野党の追及の矢面には立ちたくないという思惑もあるのではないか。
　首相は衆院選の大勝で、重要な政策転換に国民の支持が得られたと述べたが、「国論を二分するような政策」で、このような乱暴な進め方が繰り返されてはならない。
　これから始まる参院での予算審議は大変重要である。「再考の府」としての存在意義を示してもらいたい。高市政権は参院では少数与党のままだ。連携して政権へのチェック機能を果たせるか。野党の姿勢と力量が問われる。
　首相は昨秋の所信表明演説の結びで、聖徳太子の十七条の憲法を引用し、「政治とは、独断ではなく、共に語り、共に悩み、共に決める営みだ」と、「衆議」を重視する考えを示した。少数与党を脱したからといって、お忘れではあるまい。参院では出口ありきではなく、丁寧な審議に応じるよう求める。

(2026年3月15日)