Noda to seek vote on tax reform bills after extending Diet session.

TOKYO, June 20 Kyodo

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Democratic Party of Japan executives on Wednesday agreed they have to give up Thursday as the deadline for a vote in the House of Representatives on bills for tax and social security reforms, and will seek an extension of the current Diet session beyond that date to pass the legislation, lawmakers said.

Noda, who heads the DPJ, has expressed hope that the vote on the legislation, centering on a plan to raise the sales tax rate, will be conducted by Thursday, but the planned time frame could be delayed as the DPJ leadership is still struggling to secure a consensus within the ruling party, the lawmakers added.

As many party members remain opposed to an accord last week between the DPJ and the two main opposition parties on the legislation, the DPJ executives also confirmed they will hold a meeting of DPJ lawmakers in both chambers of the Diet late Wednesday, which Noda will attend, and again seek an intraparty agreement.

Debate at the meeting is expected to be heated as more than 50 allies of former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa are poised to vote against the legislation. Ozawa, head of the largest group within the DPJ, is a strong opponent of Noda's tax hike proposal.

Last Friday, the DPJ, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its ally, the New Komeito party, agreed on revisions to a set of bills on the reforms, including raising the current 5 percent sales tax rate to 8 percent in April 2014 and to 10 percent in October 2015 to help cover the nation's swelling social security costs.

Many DPJ members have criticized Noda for trying to discard social security reform plans that the DPJ proposed as part of its policy pledges for the 2009 general election, by which the party came to power, such as creating a new system to provide guaranteed minimum monthly pension benefits.

With deliberations in the House of Councillors, which is controlled by the opposition camp, likely to be tough, the DPJ is considering extending the current Diet session by around two months until August, the lawmakers said.

At a planned meeting of the Diet affairs chiefs of all parties late Wednesday, the DPJ is slated to tell the opposition bloc how long the ruling party is mulling extending the ongoing parliamentary session, they added.

Executives of the LDP and New Komeito, including both secretaries general, confirmed Wednesday morning that they will not hold talks with the DPJ on the extension of the Diet session unless the ruling party clarifies when it plans to vote on the reform bills in the lower house, opposition lawmakers said.

Political sources, meanwhile, said before the vote that the premier intends to meet with LDP chief Sadakazu Tanigaki and his New Komeito counterpart Natsuo Yamaguchi to reaffirm their cooperation in passing the legislation.