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186194
Fri, 06/03/2011 - 03:57
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http://m.oananews.org//node/186194
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Kan Survives No-Confidence Vote in Return for Resignation
(Update 2) Tokyo, June 2 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday offered to step down, allowing his cabinet to survive a no-confidence motion submitted by opposition parties to the House of Representatives as a show of frustration over his responses to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent nuclear crisis.
But any key bills or a planned second supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 are unlikely to be enacted any time soon under the outgoing prime minister.
In addition, the infighting within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan could intensify again as Kan, at a news conference Thursday night, refrained from clarifying when he will step down.
At the conference, Kan said he strongly hopes all DPJ lawmakers will cooperate until certain progress is made in the efforts to reconstruct areas devastated by the March disaster and contain the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant damaged by the disaster.
Furthermore, he said that it is his duty to make utmost efforts to end the leaks of radioactive materials from the nuclear plant as early as possible, a remark taken to signal his willingness to remain in office until January 2012, the deadline set by TEPCO for bringing the plant's damaged reactors to a state of stability known as cold shutdown.
Anti-Kan lawmakers in the DPJ, including former party chief Ichiro Ozawa and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, initially voiced their intentions to vote for the no-confidence motion.
After Kan announced his plan to step down, however, many of the rebel DPJ lawmakers voted against the motion or abstained from voting, thus helping turn it down. But Kan's failure to clarify the timing of his resignation angered these lawmakers, prompting some close to Ozawa and Hatoyama to renew their calls for his departure.
After the no-confidence motion was turned down at the Lower House, Hatoyama demanded that Kan step down within this month, noting that they agreed in writing that Kan should pave the way for compiling a fiscal 2011 second supplementary budget for financing full-fledged postdisaster reconstruction measures at an early time.
Work to compile the budget is seen to make progress before the end of June, Hatoyama said.
But Kan defied the demand. A source close to Kan quoted him as saying that he will not resign before the nuclear crisis is brought under control.
A senior DPJ official ruled out a possibility of Kan stepping down at an early time, saying it is clear that major progress in the postdisaster reconstruction efforts cannot be achieved in two or three months.
At a plenary meeting on Thursday afternoon, the all-important Lower House turned down the no-confidence motion against the Kan cabinet by a vote of 293 to 152 after Kan, at a meeting of DPJ lawmakers earlier in the day, showed his intention to quit after certain progress is made in the postdisaster reconstruction and the work to contain the nuclear crisis.
In making the resignation offer, Kan said he wants a younger generation to succeed him once he fulfills his responsibilities in dealing with the disaster and the nuclear crisis.
Following the comments, Hatoyama asked fellow DPJ lawmakers not to vote for the motion, leading many who had threatened to support the measure, reverse course.
Hatoyama voted against the motion, while Ozawa, who expressed his confidence Wednesday that the Lower House would pass the motion, was absent from the vote.
Fourteen other DPJ lawmakers also abstained, while two members--former parliamentary secretary of agriculture Kenko Matsuki and Katsuhito Yokokume--voted for the measure.
After the vote, DPJ executives held a meeting and decided to expel Matsuki and Yokokume, while deferring a decision on whether and how to punish Ozawa and 14 others who abstained.
At the Lower House plenary meeting, the motion, submitted on Wednesday, was supported by the three sponsor opposition parties--the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Sunrise Party of Japan--and another opposition Your Party. The Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party did not participate in the voting.
Under the country's constitution, if the Lower House passes a no-confidence motion against a cabinet, the cabinet must resign en masse unless the chamber is dissolved within 10 days for a snap election.
If Kan stays on, the LDP, the biggest opposition party, and New Komeito, the second biggest, would unlikely cooperate with the DPJ-led ruling coalition in enacting the second extra budget or a key bill enabling the government to issue deficit-covering bonds that finance the fiscal 2011 main budget.
The current political turmoil may prolong if Kan remains in office without clarifying when he will leave.
DPJ lawmakers regarded as possible candidates to succeed Kan include former DPJ Diet affairs head Shinji Tarutoko, who lost to Kan in the DPJ's leadership election in June last year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, whose popularity is rising in public opinion polls, and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
But any key bills or a planned second supplementary budget for fiscal 2011 are unlikely to be enacted any time soon under the outgoing prime minister.
In addition, the infighting within the ruling Democratic Party of Japan could intensify again as Kan, at a news conference Thursday night, refrained from clarifying when he will step down.
At the conference, Kan said he strongly hopes all DPJ lawmakers will cooperate until certain progress is made in the efforts to reconstruct areas devastated by the March disaster and contain the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant damaged by the disaster.
Furthermore, he said that it is his duty to make utmost efforts to end the leaks of radioactive materials from the nuclear plant as early as possible, a remark taken to signal his willingness to remain in office until January 2012, the deadline set by TEPCO for bringing the plant's damaged reactors to a state of stability known as cold shutdown.
Anti-Kan lawmakers in the DPJ, including former party chief Ichiro Ozawa and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, initially voiced their intentions to vote for the no-confidence motion.
After Kan announced his plan to step down, however, many of the rebel DPJ lawmakers voted against the motion or abstained from voting, thus helping turn it down. But Kan's failure to clarify the timing of his resignation angered these lawmakers, prompting some close to Ozawa and Hatoyama to renew their calls for his departure.
After the no-confidence motion was turned down at the Lower House, Hatoyama demanded that Kan step down within this month, noting that they agreed in writing that Kan should pave the way for compiling a fiscal 2011 second supplementary budget for financing full-fledged postdisaster reconstruction measures at an early time.
Work to compile the budget is seen to make progress before the end of June, Hatoyama said.
But Kan defied the demand. A source close to Kan quoted him as saying that he will not resign before the nuclear crisis is brought under control.
A senior DPJ official ruled out a possibility of Kan stepping down at an early time, saying it is clear that major progress in the postdisaster reconstruction efforts cannot be achieved in two or three months.
At a plenary meeting on Thursday afternoon, the all-important Lower House turned down the no-confidence motion against the Kan cabinet by a vote of 293 to 152 after Kan, at a meeting of DPJ lawmakers earlier in the day, showed his intention to quit after certain progress is made in the postdisaster reconstruction and the work to contain the nuclear crisis.
In making the resignation offer, Kan said he wants a younger generation to succeed him once he fulfills his responsibilities in dealing with the disaster and the nuclear crisis.
Following the comments, Hatoyama asked fellow DPJ lawmakers not to vote for the motion, leading many who had threatened to support the measure, reverse course.
Hatoyama voted against the motion, while Ozawa, who expressed his confidence Wednesday that the Lower House would pass the motion, was absent from the vote.
Fourteen other DPJ lawmakers also abstained, while two members--former parliamentary secretary of agriculture Kenko Matsuki and Katsuhito Yokokume--voted for the measure.
After the vote, DPJ executives held a meeting and decided to expel Matsuki and Yokokume, while deferring a decision on whether and how to punish Ozawa and 14 others who abstained.
At the Lower House plenary meeting, the motion, submitted on Wednesday, was supported by the three sponsor opposition parties--the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the Sunrise Party of Japan--and another opposition Your Party. The Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party did not participate in the voting.
Under the country's constitution, if the Lower House passes a no-confidence motion against a cabinet, the cabinet must resign en masse unless the chamber is dissolved within 10 days for a snap election.
If Kan stays on, the LDP, the biggest opposition party, and New Komeito, the second biggest, would unlikely cooperate with the DPJ-led ruling coalition in enacting the second extra budget or a key bill enabling the government to issue deficit-covering bonds that finance the fiscal 2011 main budget.
The current political turmoil may prolong if Kan remains in office without clarifying when he will leave.
DPJ lawmakers regarded as possible candidates to succeed Kan include former DPJ Diet affairs head Shinji Tarutoko, who lost to Kan in the DPJ's leadership election in June last year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, whose popularity is rising in public opinion polls, and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
