Following hours of debates, it appears the Imperial Diet finally reached a consensus on the Reform Proposal forwarded during todays early morning hours. After two rounds of voting, a sparse majority was found for one of the options. According to various statements of chamber members, the decisive votes within the Chamber of Commons were casted by the Social Democratic Party of Kusari during the second run. Party members conceded their votes to preserve the status quo and accepted the Prime Minister's own proposal instead. Members of the Chamber of Peers who ended up voting for the Prime Minister's proposal during the second run declined to comment with the exception of one Honshu Noble, Masashi Kitada, who himself voted to preserve the status quo in both runs. Kitada-sama revealed to us that large numbers of Kyushu nobility were approached by the Ninkyō Dantai during the intermission between both votes. Kitada-sama's own affiliation to United Kusari might discredit this statement as of purely political party rivalry nature, however.

• First Round of Voting:
  
  Chamber of Commons:
  Insistence on the initial Reform proposal: 36.66%
  Acceptance of the Prime Minister's settlement: 38.94%
  Preservation of the status quo: 24.40%
  
  Chamber of Peers:
  Insistence on the initial Reform proposal: 29.56%
  Acceptance of the Prime Minister's settlement: 41.73%
  Preservation of the status quo: 28.71%
  
  First round results:
  Insistence on the initial Reform proposal: 33.11%
  Acceptance of the Prime Minister's settlement: 40.34%
  Preservation of the status quo: 26.55%
  
  
• Second Round of Voting:
  
  Chamber of Commons:
  Insistence on the initial Reform proposal: 32.8%
  Acceptance of the Prime Minister's settlement: 45.52%
  Preservation of the status quo: 19.40%
  
  Chamber of Peers:
  Insistence on the initial Reform proposal: 21.61%
  Acceptance of the Prime Minister's settlement: 54.98%
  Preservation of the status quo: 23.41%
  
  Final result:
  Insistence on the initial Reform proposal: 27.21%
  Acceptance of the Prime Minister's settlement: 50.25%
  Preservation of the status quo: 22.54%
  

With an extremely slim majority, Prime Minister Miyasu's settlement proposal has passed and the proposal was forwarded to his Imperial Majesty and the Imperial Court for review and approval. The Sunrise News Service will again keep you updated about the next developments!

A view on Kusari brought to you by:
Masahiro Sanada
Sunrise News Service