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9843
Thu, 06/12/2008 - 14:58
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https://oananews.org//node/9843
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U-PPER HOUSE HITS PM FUKUDA WITH CENSURE MOTION
Tokyo, June 12 (Kyodo) - The opposition-controlled House of Councillors passed a nonbinding censure motion against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday, a move unlikely to lead to Fukuda's resignation but nonetheless one that delivers another blow to
an administration already facing sagging support ratings.
To counter the first passage of a censure motion in the upper house against a prime minister under the 1947 Constitution, the governing coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party immediately introduced a motion of confidence in the Fukuda Cabinet in the House of Representatives, which they control, for a plenary vote expected on Thursday.
While DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa urged Fukuda to dissolve the lower house and call a general election in the wake of the passage, Fukuda said he will take the censure motion ''seriously'' but denied the need to dissolve the lower house and call a general election.
''I'm not thinking about such a thing now,'' the 71-year-old prime minister said of a general election. Fukuda has been struggling with a divided Diet since taking office in September, with the upper house dominated by opposition lawmakers.
The censure motion, submitted by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party, was approved by a 131-105 vote in an upper house plenary session on Wednesday. The tiny opposition Japanese Communist Party also voted in favor.
''The prime minister has now been abandoned by the people. He (and his Cabinet) should either choose to resign en masse or seek a public mandate by dissolving (the lower house) and holding a general election,'' the three parties said in submitting the motion.
Specifically, the parties noted what they see as Fukuda's inadequate handling of elderly healthcare insurance issues and the pension record-keeping blunders.
The opposition camp also made an issue of a move the governing coalition took to railroad a second vote through the lower house to restore an additional tax on gasoline that had expired.
The DPJ, which has spearheaded the move to submit the censure motion, has especially denounced the government and ruling parties for refusing to approve during the ongoing Diet session a bill to scrap a new healthcare insurance program for seniors aged 75 or older, which the opposition parties submitted.
The health insurance program was introduced in April but has been criticized for placing a heavier financial burden on elderly people with low incomes.
The latest development comes as the ongoing Diet session, convened in January, heads toward its end.
The session will be extended six days beyond its scheduled end on Sunday, but the extension would only be for the Diet to issue automatic approval of such treaties as an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Following the passage of the censure motion, the DPJ, the SDP and the PNP will boycott all Diet deliberations from Thursday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said the confidence motion, which is expected to be approved by the lower house on Thursday, is intended to show the public that it is the more powerful lower chamber, where the ruling parties hold a two-thirds majority, that has the right to choose the prime minister.
Opposition lawmakers argue the upper house carries the most recent public
mandate as it underwent an election in July last year, in which they came to
control the house, resulting in a divided Diet. The lower house has not gone
through an election since September 2005.
In a press conference, DPJ leader Ozawa said that the censure motion passage
''means that the opposition parties which have been given a majority in the
latest election do not place confidence (in Fukuda).''
''The prime minister must take this seriously,'' he said.
To minimize the impact of the motion, Fukuda will decide Thursday on measures to improve the operation of the new healthcare insurance program and hopes to reverse his political fortunes by successfully running the Group of Eight summit he will host in early July.
''As we are currently working on various policy matters, we believe that steadily getting them done is the mission of the Fukuda Cabinet now,'' Machimura, the top government spokesman, said.
Given that the lower house's current four-year term runs until September 2009, Fukuda and the ruling parties would seem to favor delaying a general election for as long as possible, fearing they could lose the overwhelming majority they now hold in the chamber.
But it is uncertain whether Fukuda can restore the Cabinet approval rating, which has fallen below the 20 percent line in some media polls, by such means as reshuffling the Cabinet.
Before the motion's submission, the Diet enacted a total of 13 laws during an upper house plenary session Wednesday, including an amendment of the Juvenile Law.
Under the Constitution, if the lower house passes a no-confidence resolution, the Cabinet has to resign en masse or the lower house should be dissolved. A censure motion passed by the upper house has no such legally binding force.
But in 1998, then Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga was forced to resign about a month after the upper house approved a censure motion against him over a scandal involving his agency.
an administration already facing sagging support ratings.
To counter the first passage of a censure motion in the upper house against a prime minister under the 1947 Constitution, the governing coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito party immediately introduced a motion of confidence in the Fukuda Cabinet in the House of Representatives, which they control, for a plenary vote expected on Thursday.
While DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa urged Fukuda to dissolve the lower house and call a general election in the wake of the passage, Fukuda said he will take the censure motion ''seriously'' but denied the need to dissolve the lower house and call a general election.
''I'm not thinking about such a thing now,'' the 71-year-old prime minister said of a general election. Fukuda has been struggling with a divided Diet since taking office in September, with the upper house dominated by opposition lawmakers.
The censure motion, submitted by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party, was approved by a 131-105 vote in an upper house plenary session on Wednesday. The tiny opposition Japanese Communist Party also voted in favor.
''The prime minister has now been abandoned by the people. He (and his Cabinet) should either choose to resign en masse or seek a public mandate by dissolving (the lower house) and holding a general election,'' the three parties said in submitting the motion.
Specifically, the parties noted what they see as Fukuda's inadequate handling of elderly healthcare insurance issues and the pension record-keeping blunders.
The opposition camp also made an issue of a move the governing coalition took to railroad a second vote through the lower house to restore an additional tax on gasoline that had expired.
The DPJ, which has spearheaded the move to submit the censure motion, has especially denounced the government and ruling parties for refusing to approve during the ongoing Diet session a bill to scrap a new healthcare insurance program for seniors aged 75 or older, which the opposition parties submitted.
The health insurance program was introduced in April but has been criticized for placing a heavier financial burden on elderly people with low incomes.
The latest development comes as the ongoing Diet session, convened in January, heads toward its end.
The session will be extended six days beyond its scheduled end on Sunday, but the extension would only be for the Diet to issue automatic approval of such treaties as an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Following the passage of the censure motion, the DPJ, the SDP and the PNP will boycott all Diet deliberations from Thursday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said the confidence motion, which is expected to be approved by the lower house on Thursday, is intended to show the public that it is the more powerful lower chamber, where the ruling parties hold a two-thirds majority, that has the right to choose the prime minister.
Opposition lawmakers argue the upper house carries the most recent public
mandate as it underwent an election in July last year, in which they came to
control the house, resulting in a divided Diet. The lower house has not gone
through an election since September 2005.
In a press conference, DPJ leader Ozawa said that the censure motion passage
''means that the opposition parties which have been given a majority in the
latest election do not place confidence (in Fukuda).''
''The prime minister must take this seriously,'' he said.
To minimize the impact of the motion, Fukuda will decide Thursday on measures to improve the operation of the new healthcare insurance program and hopes to reverse his political fortunes by successfully running the Group of Eight summit he will host in early July.
''As we are currently working on various policy matters, we believe that steadily getting them done is the mission of the Fukuda Cabinet now,'' Machimura, the top government spokesman, said.
Given that the lower house's current four-year term runs until September 2009, Fukuda and the ruling parties would seem to favor delaying a general election for as long as possible, fearing they could lose the overwhelming majority they now hold in the chamber.
But it is uncertain whether Fukuda can restore the Cabinet approval rating, which has fallen below the 20 percent line in some media polls, by such means as reshuffling the Cabinet.
Before the motion's submission, the Diet enacted a total of 13 laws during an upper house plenary session Wednesday, including an amendment of the Juvenile Law.
Under the Constitution, if the lower house passes a no-confidence resolution, the Cabinet has to resign en masse or the lower house should be dissolved. A censure motion passed by the upper house has no such legally binding force.
But in 1998, then Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga was forced to resign about a month after the upper house approved a censure motion against him over a scandal involving his agency.
