Saturday, 26 February 2011

Japan senior lawmaker sees PM resignation as an option -Kyodo

TOKYO, Feb 26 - A senior lawmaker of Japan's
ruling party suggested on Saturday that the resignation of
unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan was an option to gain
opposition parties' support to pass bills to implement a
workable budget, Kyodo News agency reported.
Kan, whose support ratings have sunk to about 20 percent,
has already been facing pressure from inside and outside his
Democratic Party (DPJ) to quit or call a snap election and is
struggling to enact a workable 2011/12 budget in a divided
parliament.
The latest comment by Kozo Watanabe, supreme adviser for the
DPJ who has supported Kan's policy efforts, could add pressure
on the premier, Kyodo said.
"We need to prioritize the passage of the budget over the
DPJ, Mr. Kan and whatever," Kyodo quoted Kozo Watanabe, as
saying.
Rifts in Kan's own party, which deepened after the party's
powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa was indicted over funding scandals last
month, have also distracted the government from dealing with
policy problems, such as the country's massive public debt.
Watanabe, a Ozawa critic, also said the party's lawmakers
should protect Kan as long as he is willing to do his job as
they have voted for him as the party leader.
Speaking on a nationwide television programme earlier in the
day, the veteran lawmaker ruled out the chance of a snap
election for the parliament's powerful lower house as the DPJ
would be defeated in the election, Kyodo said.

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