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TOKYO: Japan’s new Prime Minister Taro Aso on Monday brushed aside
talk of an immediate election, vowing to concentrate on revitalizing
the ailing economy as he struggles to win over voters.
“Our priority is to let the supplementary
budget pass. Therefore, I don’t have dissolution [of parliament]
in mind at this stage,” Aso said.
“I presume that what people are most concerned
about right now are the prospects for the economy,” he said.
Aso was speaking to a parliamentary committee
that was looking at an extra 1.81 trillion yen ($17 billion) budget
he has proposed to help the world’s second largest economy cope
with rising prices.
Aso is also looking at additional funding to
help stimulate Japan’s economy, which is teetering on recession as
the global financial crisis saps foreign demand for its exports.
Aso, a flamboyant campaigner and a former
Foreign minister, took over on September 24 from Yasuo Fukuda, who
resigned amid sagging popularity after he raised medical costs for
elderly people to ease the budget burden.
But Aso’s initial poll ratings disappointed
strategists in his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who
hoped he could call an election quickly to contain a rising
opposition, which controls one house of parliament.
The latest opinion poll by the Asahi Shimbun
showed that public support for the Aso Cabinet has already fallen
further, slipping to 41 percent from 48 percent in a survey taken
immediately after he took office.
Ominously for Aso, 40 percent of voters said
they preferred a government led by the opposition Democratic Party
of Japan against 34 who wanted rule by the LDP, which has been in
power for all but 10 months since 1955.
The liberal newspaper surveyed 1,036 eligible
voters on Saturday and Sunday.
The term of the lower house expires in September
next year but the opposition has stepped up demands for an early
election.
Aso has broken ranks with recent LDP premiers,
such as Junichiro Koizumi, by supporting government spending to
boost the economy, downplaying free-market reforms that the
opposition charges has widened the gap between rich and poor.
A separate survey by the Nikkei business daily
found that 69 percent of Japan’s major companies agreed that
Aso’s priority should be economic stimulus rather than cutting the
national debt, which is the worst among rich nations.
“Let’s say a doctor comes to a person whose
heart isn’t beating well and proposes to improve his health. That
won’t mean anything if his heart stops,” Aso said.
“We have to do a lot of things such as cardiac
massage or drip infusion,” he said. “The economy is in a
considerably severe situation. It we fail to take action right now,
something terrible may happen.”
In the parliament session, Aso also pressed for
a renewal of a naval mission in the Indian Ocean providing fuel and
other logistical support to the US-led “war on terror” in
Afghanistan.
“Using common sense, it’s impossible for me
to fathom that Japan alone would withdraw in the middle of the fight
against terrorism in Afghanistan,” Aso said.
“We have received the world’s appreciation.
It is extremely significant for us to work with the world as a
member of the global community in the war on terror.”
The opposition forced a temporary halt to the
operation last year, arguing that Japan—officially pacifist since
World War II—should not take part in “American wars.”
-- AFP
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