The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in an apparent attempt to appease junior coalition partner New Komeito, decided Friday to allow Diet deliberations to begin on a bill to give foreigners with permanent resident status the right to vote in local elections.

New Komeito had pushed for inclusion of the provision when it agreed to join forces five years ago with what then was a three-party coalition that included the now-defunct Liberal Party.

But the LDP continued to put up strong resistance to giving suffrage to long-term foreign residents. Various bills have been submitted since then, but none has ever gone to a vote in the Lower House.

New Komeito leader Takenori Kanzaki expressed the frustration felt by many of his party members on Wednesday.

``We are at the brink since five years have passed,'' Kanzaki said.

He said party members should be allowed to vote as they wish-and not just along party lines-so the Diet can take a stand on this issue.

Other New Komeito members have said that not even putting the measure to a vote in the Diet went against the spirit of the agreement that set up the coalition government in the first place.

However, the more pressure New Komeito puts on the LDP, the greater is the resistance put up by LDP members who oppose the proposal.

A group of LDP members calling for a cautious approach to giving foreign residents the right to vote confirmed at a meeting on Tuesday that it would continue to oppose the proposal. It cited constitutional concerns.

Learning of that meeting, New Komeito Secretary-General Tetsuzo Fuyushiba wrote a letter to Takeo Hiranuma, who heads the group of about 50 members, explaining why the bill should be debated.

The increased frustration among New Komeito members led the LDP to agree to allow Diet deliberations on the bill, but one high-ranking executive said, ``We will discuss the bill, but it has many difficult elements to it.''

Another problem is that the bill will be handled by the Lower House special committee that will also be deliberating a bill to revise the Political Fund Control Law. With the LDP facing increasing public criticism due to shady donations from a national dentists association, party leaders will likely place greater focus on revising the political fund law to give voters the impression it is doing something about such problems.(IHT/Asahi: October 23,2004) (10/23)