Japan's PM to dissolve lower house Friday

TOKYO - Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will dissolve the lower house of parliament on Friday for a general election on December 16, ruling Democratic Party of Japan officials indicated, following deliberations on the issue between party leaders in the lower chamber Wednesday.

In a parliamentary debate held between Noda and the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe, Noda indicated that he would dissolve the lower house for a general election on Friday.

The Japanese premiere had previously said he would dissolve lower house, the more powerful of the two houses in Japan's bicameral system of parliament, by the end of the year for a snap election.

The official decision was made at the prime minister's office and followed a one-on-one debate between Noda and Abe earlier in the day. The decision followed a meeting between senior officials of the government and ruling Democratic Party of Japan executives, sources close to the matter said.

Acting DPJ Secretary General Jun Azumi said following the meeting the government and the DPJ had agreed election campaigning would commence on December 4.

Noda, under increasing pressure from the opposition bloc, has moved forward the date to dissolve the lower house despite harsh resistance from some factions within his own party who are concerned that dwindling public support for Noda and his cabinet will likely mean that the DPJ will relinquish its grip on power to the LDP in the upcoming election.

Latest polls show that the disapproval rate for the governing cabinet has hit a record high at 64 percent and public support for Noda's cabinet has slumped to below the key 20 percent threshold -- an unrecoverable level for a ruling cabinet according to leading political pundits.

Recent surveys have also showed that the public is at odds with Noda over his signature sales tax hike proposal, which would see consumption tax here doubled to 10 percent, as well as his handling of diplomatically sensitive territorial disputes with Japan's neighbors, including China and South Korea.

However Noda said that if the LDP could meet his conditions regarding cutting the number of lawmakers in the 480-seat lower chamber, then he would agree to the dissolution.

"I think I could dissolve the lower house Friday if LDP President Shinzo Abe makes promises on cutting the number of lawmakers in the 480-seat lower house," Noda was quoted as saying during deliberations with his LDP counterpart.

Noda also required the LDP and its ally New Komeito Party to cooperate in the passage of a debt-financing bill for the current fiscal year, and discussions regarding reformation of the lower house's electoral system, involving reevaluating the weight of a single vote, to correct a current perception of an imbalance in the voting system.

Noda has proposed cutting five single-seat districts as well as 40 seats from the proportional representation constituency to taper the gap in the value of a vote between heavily and sparsely populated constituencies.

Abe, hotly tipped to succeed Noda as the nation's leader, said that he would agree to Noda's stipulations and previous commitments made between the DPJ and the opposition camp.

"We'll do our utmost to try to enact legislation aimed at slashing the number of seats in the lower house during next year's ordinary parliamentary session," Abe told Noda during their parlay.

Both party's leaders and their officials have seemingly reached a consensus on these issues -- stumbling blocks that had previously kept Noda from deciding on an exact date to dissolve the lower house.

"Our party has sincerely accepted the prime minister's remarks and decided on a policy to cooperate," LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba told reporters after the meeting. "We will discuss how to achieve that from now on," he added.

Similarly, the LDP's ally New Komeito Party seems willing to play ball.

"An agreement is possible if fundamental reform of the electoral system is discussed at the next ordinary Diet session to be convened after the lower house election," party leader Natsuo Yamaguchi said. "We will work towards this," the party chief added.

But Noda is now facing a potential backlash from within his own party and according to sources close to the prime minister, DPJ Secretary-General Azuma Koshiishi has warned the prime minister that an exodus of DPJ lawmakers following his decision could be of grave consequence to an already fragile DPJ.

The DPJ's coalition People's New Party chief Shozaburo Jimi also warned Noda that the federation could face problems if Noda overly prioritizes dissolving the lower house and has urged the prime minister to focus instead on key policy issues.

Despite resistance from his own camp, Noda's decision was influenced by the opposition bloc that threatened earlier Wednesday to submit a censure motion to the lower house against Noda's cabinet if Noda continued to stall on dissolving the lower house for an election.

By law, if a no-confidence motion were to be passed against the premiere's cabinet by the opposition bloc, Noda's administration would be forced to resign en mass.

As Noda prepares to dissolve the lower house and gear-up for his party's campaign to retain power, public sentiment according to the latest polls shows that the DPJ will almost certainly be ousted from power by the LDP, following a 3-year reign when the Democrats swept to power ending almost half a century of LDP rule in Japan.

Japan's current political realignment will almost certainly see Abe triumph and the LDP chief who previously served as prime minister between September 2006 and September 2007, will, provided his bid is successful, become Japan's seventh prime minister in as many years.