POLITICAL WRANGLES PERSIST
On Sept. 24, the Diet announced that Taro Aso was elected as the nation's
92nd prime minister after bitter wrangles between the two chambers of the Diet.
In the voting of the parliament held earlier in the day, the House of
Representatives picked Taro Aso while the House of Councilors chose Ichiro
Ozawa. And a joint panel, consisting of 20members with 10 from either chamber,
failed to reach a consensus on the nomination of the new prime minister. As the
two chambers produced different outcomes and the joint panel was not able to
come to an agreement, the lower house's decision prevailed and became the final
resolution of the Diet as stipulated by the Constitution.
At a time when Japan's economic outlook is clouded by the global financial
market upheavals triggered by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman
Brothers as well as soaring prices of fuel, food and other commodities, Aso
indicated that he would put priority to spurring the economy within three years
through a proactive fiscal policy.
On Oct. 16, a 1.81 trillion yen supplementary budget was adopted by the
Diet to shore up Japan's economy. In an upper house plenary session, the main
opposition DPJ voted in favor of the budget along with the ruling parties, in an
apparent effort to put pressure on Aso to call an election by having Aso's top
priority legislation cleared.
In November, Aso refused to meet the request of DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa
that the government submit a second supplementary budget for the 2008 fiscal
year during the ongoing Diet session. Instead, his cabinet decided to submit it
"early next year" to a regular Diet session to be convened in January.
In response Ozawa threatened to reject an expected voting in the
opposition-controlled House of Councilors for a key government bill to extend
Japan's refueling mission in support of U.S.-led anti-terrorism operations,
saying that the DPJ would boycott Diet deliberations.
Ozawa also urged Aso to dissolve the lower house if he does not submit a
second extra budget for fiscal 2008 to the current Diet session. But Aso brushed
aside calls from the resurgent opposition for snap elections, saying that he
"cannot create a vacuum in the nation's politics" by calling an election during
the financial crisis.
The Aso administration's delay in submitting the second supplementary
budget has drawn criticism from various quarters that Aso lacks consistency in
economic policy as he had pledged to prioritize policies for strengthening the
economy when he took the helm of the country. Public reproaches also came to him
for his gaffes and flip-flops over a government plan for cash benefits to the
public and the new medical care system.
MOUNTING UNCERTAINTIES
According to a Kyodo News poll released Sunday, the approval rating for
Aso's Cabinet plunged to 25.5 percent, well below the 30 percent line into the
level considered "critical" in terms of survival while the disapproval rating
rose to 61.3 percent, up 19.1 percent from the pervious survey in November.
On the other hand, respondents also gave higher marks to Ozawa when asked
which one they would prefer to see as leader of the nation. Ozawa received 34.5
percent, up 10.1 points from the previous poll, while Aso got 33.5 percent, down
17.5 points. It was the first reversal for the two in terms of people's
preferences since Aso became prime minister in September.
A general election for the lower house could, at most, be postponed until
September 2009 when the term of current lower house members expires. But
uncertainties remain: Could the DPJ take the helm of the nation? Will Japan
usher in a new era characterized by the two-party system?
The decisive moment is ahead for Japan to end all the chaos in 2009.
