Selection of a lawmaker without Cabinet experience seen as strengthening the influence of the Prime Minister's Office while reducing opposition input.
Hideki Murai, who became new parliamentary affairs chief of the Liberal Democratic Party last week, is drawing attention from the ruling parties and the opposition. The 46-year-old has been elected to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, six times but has never served as a Cabinet minister. It is very rare for a person with no Cabinet experience to be named the party’s parliamentary affairs leader.
The choice of Murai by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, also LDP president, for the important party position therefore is believed to reflect Takaichi’s intention to manage parliamentary business at the initiative of the Prime Minister’s Office.
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