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I can't lose this election - Abe
12/07/2007 10:17 - (SA)
Tokyo - Japan's scandal-plagued prime minister and his opponents launched their campaigns on Thursday for a parliamentary election that could herald a period of political instability in the world's second-largest economy.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose 10-month-old government is plummeting in the polls after losing three Cabinet ministers, faces his first major electoral test in the July 29 ballot for the legislature's upper house.
Electoral defeat would not immediately threaten the ruling coalition's hold on
power because it has a commanding majority in the lower house - but an embarrassing loss could prompt party leaders to force Abe from office.
Abe was clearly on the defensive in his first campaign stop for ruling Liberal Democratic Party or LDP candidates on Thursday.
"I can't lose this election," he shouted to hundreds of supporters from the top of a campaign van in downtown Tokyo, in a light rain. "Please give me your power."
Scandals
Meanwhile, opposition leaders demanded the government own up to a series of scandals, including the damaging loss of pension records affecting about 50 million claims - a major issue in this rapidly ageing nation.
"This election is one for judging the reliability of the pension system," said Naoto Kan, a leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. "Now is the time to put us in the line-up."
Up for grabs are half of the 242 seats in the less powerful, largely ceremonial upper house. About 380 candidates are expected to run, according to Japan's largest daily newspaper, Yomiuri.
Abe's LDP controls the chamber with its coalition partner, the New Komei Party, for a combined 132 seats.
But the once-popular premier has seen his support rate fall to a dismal 30%. And opposition parties are hitting hard at his government's handling of the pension scandal and allegations of political corruption.
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