TOKYO, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Diet, the country's parliament, convened for a 55-day extraordinary session Friday, mainly to discuss a supplementary budget to finance a new economic package to tackle rising prices.

The ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito and the government plan to compile new economic measures and submit a draft supplementary budget to fund the spending, with the goal of having the bill passed during the session, set to run until Dec. 13.

The opposition camp is expected to grill the government on the planned economic measures, problems related to the controversial religious group, the Unification Church, and financial scandals involving some cabinet members.

Meanwhile, in a vote at the beginning of the session, former Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, 79, was elected as the speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the parliament, following the sudden resignation of Hiroyuki Hosoda, who cited health concerns.

The extraordinary parliamentary session provides the first opportunity of full-scale debates between the ruling and opposition sides since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reshuffled his cabinet last month. Enditem

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