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Abe battles resignation calls after historic loss
By Kyoko Hasegawa
AFP
TOKYO
Petroleumworld.com 07 30 07
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday resisted calls to resign after voters handed his conservative party one of the most crushing defeats in its history.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955, failed for the first time to be the largest party in a chamber of parliament, with the left-centre opposition taking control of the upper house.
Abe has ruled out quitting or calling a new general election, setting the stage for political gridlock in the world's second largest economy. Share prices in Tokyo slipped to four-month lows in early trade.
The Liberal Democrats' leadership met Monday and agreed to keep Abe, who got to work on reshuffling his scandal-plagued cabinet, domestic news agencies said.
"We will take the election results humbly and strive to improve," chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.
Shiozaki blamed the election defeat on a series of scandals and gaffes by top ministers rather than the agenda of Abe, who has championed conservative causes such as rewriting the post-World War II constitution.
Abe's approval ratings nosedived this year when the pensions agency admitted misplacing millions of payment records -- a sensitive issue in a rapidly ageing country.
But rebels within the party openly questioned the premier's insistence on staying on.
"Many voters decided that Prime Minister Abe, or his government, isn't qualified for the job," said Taro Kono, a maverick lawmaker from the party's liberal wing.
"He cannot carry on like before," Kono told Fuji television. "The problems in his cabinet took a heavy toll on votes. He must correct what he has to correct."
Some major newspapers also said that Abe lost credibility after his Liberal Democratic-led coalition lost nearly half of the seats it was defending in the upper house.
"People said 'no' to Abe's agenda which is focused on ideology and not on their everyday lives," the Mainichi Shimbun said in an editorial.
Japanese stocks slumped on fears that the upheaval could stall economic reforms, and due to gloom over heavy losses on Wall Street, dealers said. But the yen shrugged off the political uncertainty.
"I hope this will not delay the pace of reforms," said Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Japan's main business lobby Keidanren.
The resurgent opposition campaigned against some of the free-market reforms initiated by Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi, helping to win votes in rural areas that were traditionally strongholds of the Liberal Democrats.
Sunday's election did not involve the more powerful lower house, where Abe maintains a solid majority inherited from Koizumi, a talented campaigner who was one of Japan's most popular premiers.
But members of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which is set to gain control of the upper house for the first time, said they would push for Abe to quit.
"The Abe cabinet couldn't win voters' mandate. We will demand the resignation of the cabinet," said Katsuya Ogawa, a newly elected party lawmaker.
The ruling coalition enjoys a two-thirds majority in the lower house, enough to override the upper house.
But some analysts said the deadlock would eventually lead Abe to seek early general elections, despite the risk of losing power entirely.
"The only way to avoid political turmoil is to hold a general election for the lower house so the ruling bloc can strengthen its political base," said Yu Uchiyama, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo.
AFP 30 0446 GMT 07 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All rights reserved.
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