Japan PM dissolves parliament ahead of election

TOKYO – Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved parliament yesterday, paving the way for an election late next month seen likely to end his party’s more than half century of almost unbroken rule.

The embattled Aso, who is lagging badly in opinion polls and has struggled to quell internal party revolt, offered a rare apology to his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the government’s sagging support.’My statements and what have been characterised as my changing policy positions have led the Japanese people to worry about and grow distrustful of politics,’ Aso said shortly before the lower house was dissolved.’As a result, the approval rating for the Liberal Democratic Party has fallen. I am deeply sorry,’ said the 68-year-old premier.Several recent surveys have put support for Aso in the high teens, and most pundits expect the main opposition group, the as yet untested Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to win the general election on August 30.Aso’s LDP lost four percentage points to 20 per cent from two weeks ago while support for the DPJ rose by six points to 31 per cent, according to the latest poll, conducted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper at the weekend.A succession of local election defeats, most recently in key Tokyo assembly polls this month, has prompted rebel members of the LDP to try to push Aso out of power so the party can face the election under another leader.The premier’s allies and party leaders have tried to ease the internal dispute, and Aso on Tuesday vowed to stay on as party chief, but discontent is simmering among many ruling party lawmakers who are likely to lose their seats.Aso – a political blueblood from a top industrial family, known for his gruff demeanor – tried his best to rally the troops yesterday.’Let me express my determination to lead all of you to fight the current tough situation,’ Aso told his fellow LDP lawmakers.’My sole wish is that all of our candidates here for the lower house election shall return to this place. To achieve this goal, there is no other way but to form a united front and fight together.’Aso was to face the press later in the day.The premier – who took office in September as the world’s number two economy was sliding deep into recession amid the global downturn – was likely to highlight his economic stimulus measures in appealing to voters.The DPJ, led by fellow political blueblood and US university trained engineer Yukio Hatoyama, has promised reforms, including strengthening social welfare and reducing the influence of the powerful state bureacracy.’This general election is not only about ending the LDP’s rule,’ Hatoyama told a news conference. ‘This is an important revolutionary vote to create a new Japan with politician-led politics.The LDP has governed Japan continuously since the party’s foundation in 1955, except for one 10-month stretch in the early 1990s. – Nampa-AFP