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Japan ruling party's election hopes hit by base row
Source: Agencies |
May 10, 2010, Monday
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LESS than a fifth of Japanese plan to vote for the ruling Democratic Party in an upcoming election, according to a newspaper poll published today, after an escalating row over a US base further damaged support.
The Democrats' chances of winning a majority in the upper house election, expected in July, are receding, raising the chances of policy deadlock as the country struggles to maintain a fragile economic recovery and control ballooning debt.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) fared even worse in the Yomiuri newspaper poll, with just 13 percent of the 1,125 respondents saying they would cast their ballot for the party that governed almost continuously for decades until last year.
About a quarter of respondents to the Yomiuri poll said they supported Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his cabinet, down on 33 percent in a previous poll last month and compared with 67 percent who said they did not.
Asked why they did not support Hatoyama, who swept to power in a landslide election victory last year, more than half of the respondents said he lacked leadership qualities, the Yomiuri said.
Hatoyama vowed to resolve a row over the relocation of a US Marine base on the southern island of Okinawa by the end of May, but was rebuffed by islanders when he visited last weekend with a plan that would keep most of the base's functions on the island.
"I told the people at the end of May and I have no intention of changing that," Hatoyama told reporters. "I want us all to agree on a direction without fail," he added.
Hatoyama said ministers would make efforts to come up with a plan at a meeting on Monday, just three weeks ahead of the deadline.
The Democrats' support had already been weakened by a series of funding scandals.
Last month, a judicial review panel said Democratic Party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, seen by many as the real power behind the government, should be charged over misreporting of his political funds, but he has repeatedly said he will not step down.
The Democrats' chances of winning a majority in the upper house election, expected in July, are receding, raising the chances of policy deadlock as the country struggles to maintain a fragile economic recovery and control ballooning debt.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) fared even worse in the Yomiuri newspaper poll, with just 13 percent of the 1,125 respondents saying they would cast their ballot for the party that governed almost continuously for decades until last year.
About a quarter of respondents to the Yomiuri poll said they supported Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his cabinet, down on 33 percent in a previous poll last month and compared with 67 percent who said they did not.
Asked why they did not support Hatoyama, who swept to power in a landslide election victory last year, more than half of the respondents said he lacked leadership qualities, the Yomiuri said.
Hatoyama vowed to resolve a row over the relocation of a US Marine base on the southern island of Okinawa by the end of May, but was rebuffed by islanders when he visited last weekend with a plan that would keep most of the base's functions on the island.
"I told the people at the end of May and I have no intention of changing that," Hatoyama told reporters. "I want us all to agree on a direction without fail," he added.
Hatoyama said ministers would make efforts to come up with a plan at a meeting on Monday, just three weeks ahead of the deadline.
The Democrats' support had already been weakened by a series of funding scandals.
Last month, a judicial review panel said Democratic Party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, seen by many as the real power behind the government, should be charged over misreporting of his political funds, but he has repeatedly said he will not step down.
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