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Snap elections unlikely to save Aso

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-14 09:21

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso plans to call a general election on Aug 30, a top ruling party official said Monday, despite the prospect that his long-ruling conservative party is headed for a historic defeat.

A Democratic Party victory in the national election would end half a century of nearly unbroken rule by the business-friendly Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and raise the chance of resolving political deadlocks as Japan tries to recover from its worst recession since World War II.

The decision to call the vote, which must be held by October anyway, follows a crushing loss for the unpopular Aso's ruling party in a Tokyo election on Sunday that was seen as a barometer for the national poll.

The move was widely seen as a last-ditch attempt to keep the ruling party in power.

Parliament's lower house would be dissolved next week to set the stage for the election, Hiroyuki Hosoda, secretary-general of Aso's LDP, told reporters.

Meanwhile, the opposition, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, submitted the no-confidence motion to the powerful lower house of parliament, said party spokesman Toshiaki Oikawa. The motion was not expected to pass and was instead seen as a symbolic action to embarrass Aso.

Moves within the LDP to replace Aso had been expected to grow after the party and its junior partner lost their majority in the Tokyo assembly but Hosoda said he saw no such moves now.

Aso's two predecessors each quit after less than a year in office and some analysts said it was too late for another change.

Tokyo's Nikkei share average slid 2.6 percent to its lowest close in eight weeks, hurt by the growing political uncertainty.

Related readings:  No-confidence motion submitted against Aso  Japan's Aso on hot seat after Tokyo vote  Japan PM Aso says to decide on election soon  Japan's Aso reshuffles Cabinet to boost ratings

Some financial market experts were disappointed the election would not be held sooner. "The market has started factoring in a change of government, but the longer the wait, the more the political and economic uncertainty grows," said Susumu Kato, chief economist at Calyon Capital Markets Japan.

Chaos has gripped the LDP, with Aso's critics inside the party speaking of ditching him while the party's campaign strategist had tried to draft an ex-comedian for its ticket.

"If things go on as they are, this will be a severe defeat," said Katsuhiko Nakamura, director of research at think tank Asian Forum Japan.

"The focus is on who can change the situation, and the LDP will have trouble convincing people they can change things."

The Democrats have pledged to pay more heed to the rights of consumers and workers than those of corporations and to pry policy-making decisions out of the hands of bureaucrats as a way to reduce wasteful spending.

An opposition win in the general election would smooth policy implementation by resolving deadlocks in parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house and can delay bills.

Some analysts say the Democrats' large spending plans could inflate public debt and push up government bond yields, although the LDP has also passed massive stimulus spending.

Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama said Friday it was time for a new era in Japanese politics and that the country should be inspired by President Barack Obama's win in last year's elections in the US, Japan's most important ally.

The opposition party has promised change in what it calls Japan's bureaucrat-led politics, improve welfare measures and lower the cost of education.

Reuters - AP