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Japan's parliament has passed a censure motion, submitted by the two main opposition parties, against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. This has piled more pressure on Noda to make good on his promise to call an early election "soon".
The reprimand is non-binding, but effectively means that the opposition will stop cooperating with the government on most bills, including key ones on deficit financing and voting reform.
Japan's parliament has passed a censure motion, submitted by the two main
opposition parties, against Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. This has piled
more pressure on Noda to make good on his promise to call an early election "soon".
In the censure motion, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party accused Noda and his government of incompetence in handling state matters. In particular, it called recent territorial spats with South Korea, China and Russia a "national crisis" caused by incoherent foreign policy.
The opposition New Komeito party originally supported the motion. But later it boycotted the vote because it felt it ran counter to an earlier agreement to cooperate with the Democrats to raise taxes and reform the welfare system.
Noda promised this month to call an election to parliament's lower house, which was the price for opposition support for his plan to raise the sales tax to offset rising social security costs.
But to the growing frustration of his rivals, he has since been coy on the timing of the vote. Last week, Noda brushed off as speculation reports that he had suggested a November date in his talks with opposition leaders.
By threatening to stall the bill that the government needs to cover the bulk of its fiscal deficit and 40 percent of all spending, the opposition hopes to finally win Noda's unequivocal commitment.
The current parliamentary session ends Sept. 8, but lawmakers could reach a compromise and hold an extraordinary session to pass the budget finance bill.
Five months into this fiscal year, the government has made do by dipping into reserves and making other adjustments. But Finance Minister Jun Azumi has warned that the government could run out of cash by early October if the bill fails to pass.
中国公共网摘编：GAN JADE |
