Gerald L. Curtis :: The Japanese Diet is
what is referred to as a bicameral legislature, meaning that it has two
houses. The most powerful house in the Japanese Diet is the lower house.
The lower house has 500 members under the new election system that was
adopted in 1994, and members are elected for a term of four years.
However, if a non-confidence motion is passed on the prime minister,
or if the prime minister decides to call an election, to dissolve the
house and call an election before the four-year term is up, then an election
is called whenever the prime minister so determines.
In fact, Japanese Diet terms tend to last an average of about two and
a half to three years, and then the prime minister usually dissolves
the house at a time when he thinks his party will do well in the election,
and a new election is called. This, too, is very typical behavior for
parliamentary systems. It is the same way that the system works in Great
Britain.
[The lower house is also referred to as the House
of Representatives.] |