Japan's parly faces deadlock
21/01/2008 12:44  - (SA)  

Want to know more? Answerit can help.

Japan frees whale militants Rudd steps into Japan standoff UFO debate invades Japan Japan tackles pension scandal Japan debates terror mission Tide turns for Fukuda's bloc Fresh scandal in Japan Fukuda pleads with opposition New PM heads for showdown

Tokyo - Japan's opposition went on the offensive on Monday, pledging to push for an early election and spelling stalemate for the divided parliament's new session.

The opposition pledged to fight the agenda of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who opened the 150-day parliament session on Friday with promises of action on fighting global warming and other issues.

"Nothing will change if this government continues to exist," Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said as he took the stand in parliament.

"In order for Japan to regain its vitality, we must launch an administration run by the Democratic Party of Japan," he said.

The key battleground of the new session will be a government plan to renew a fuel tax, which has been continuously extended since the 1970s to fund road construction. Fukuda says the tax will help fight climate change.

The opposition counters that the tax, which is set to expire in March, hurts the economically disadvantaged who voted en masse against the government in July elections.

Deadlock

The opposition won control of one house of parliament in the summer vote, triggering such a deadlock that Fukuda resorted to nearly unprecedented parliamentary measures this month to restart a naval mission backing US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Fukuda, a 71-year-old political veteran who took over in September when his beleaguered predecessor Shinzo Abe quit, reiterated his call to the opposition to find common ground.

"In order to carry out policies on behalf of the Japanese people, I believe that through discussions we can develop a relationship of trust to search for areas on which we can agree," Fukuda said in response to Hatoyama.

Fukuda has signalled he hopes to avoid an early election at least before Japan hosts the Group of Eight industrial nations' summit in July.

But his government has faced a series of difficult domestic issues: gross mismanagement of the pension system, corruption at the defence ministry and an uncertain economic outlook.

"I believe it is important in a democracy to ask for a public mandate by calling for elections. But such actions must not negatively affect the livelihood of the public," Fukuda said.

"I think, rather than dissolving the parliament, it is better to engage in frank exchanges of views," he said.

What is this? Yahoo Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Brought to you by OUTsurance Car Insurance
	News24 Headlines on your Facebook profile		News24 on mobile