The executive council of New Party Sakigake decided Tuesday not to end its current non-Cabinet alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party until the current Diet session closes June 10.
Sakigake Secretary General Hiroyuki Sonoda told reporters that the council agreed the small party should continue playing a role as a member of the tripartite ruling coalition even if the Social Democratic Party, the other LDP ally, leaves the alliance before the Diet session ends.
The SDP has threatened that it will soon cut its ties if the LDP does not compromise and support a proposed political ethics bill to prevent lawmakers from obtaining money through influence-peddling. Sonoda said Sakigake, which has only two members in the Lower House and three in the Upper House, has fulfilled its responsibility to realize policies in the ruling alliance for the past four years despite its size.
Sakigake will continue calling on the LDP and the SDP to resume talks on the bill to fight political corruption, Sonoda said. "The issue is the only remaining policy task for the current alliance," Sonoda said.
Although Masayoshi Takemura, who officially regained leadership of the party Tuesday, told reporters last week that the coalition will collapse if any one of the three parties leaves, Sakigake's Executive Council agreed that the party should not end the alliance strictly to fare better in the Upper House elections in July.
It is believed that the SDP is considering ending its ties with the LDP to improve its performance at the polls.