The Diet shall be the highest organ of state power, and shall be the sole lawmaking organ of the State. Thus reads Article 41 of the Constitution.
Political insiders say, however, that the Policy Affairs Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party actually wields greater decision-making power within the nation's lawmaking machinery, and that the decisions it makes are those sought by the bureaucracy.
Under a long-established informal agreement dating to the late 1960s between the government and the LDP, whose grip on power has been almost unbroken since its establishment in the 1950s, the policy council has the right to screen all government-sponsored bills before they are submitted to the Diet.