Social Democratic Party executives have decided to terminate the party's parliamentary alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party early next month unless its demands on a proposed anticorruption bill are accepted, an SDP source said May 1.
The source said party leaders made the decision at a secret meeting held at a Tokyo hotel Wednesday, but party executives would not confirm that such a decision was made.
LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato said in the evening that Shigeru Ito, Kato's SDP counterpart, denied the media reports when the two talked over the telephone. Kato told reporters that Ito flatly denied the reports and said SDP leader Takako Doi was puzzled by them.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.