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'No election for now' Japan PM tells aide
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-27 11:27 TOKYO -- Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso has told an aide he will not call an election for the time being, the Nikkei financial newspaper reported on Monday.
Aso had been widely expected to call a snap poll after taking office in September in an attempt to renew the ruling coalition's mandate and resolve a policy deadlock with the opposition-dominated upper house of parliament. "I won't call an election for a while, so let's continue to work together," the Nikkei quoted Aso as saying to a senior party official in a phone call on Sunday. He is not required to hold an election for almost a year and has said in recent weeks he wants to stay in office to deal with the financial crisis and Japan's troubled economy. A poll published in the Nikkei the same day showed Aso's popularity had fallen, in line with other recent surveys. Support for his cabinet was at 48 percent in a poll carried out from October 24-26, the paper said, down 5 percent on the previous poll held just after he took office. But a majority of those polled agreed with Aso's policy of focusing on economic measures rather than calling an election. About 63 percent said the economy should be the top priority, while 29 percent said the election should come first, the Nikkei said. Respondents also said they saw Aso as more suitable to be prime minister than Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, the paper said. Thirty-six percent said they favoured Aso, while only 16 percent said Ozawa was the most suitable candidate. The random telephone poll involved 1,503 households and obtained 947 responses, the paper said. |
