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Reports indicated that Japanese PM Taro Aso may face an uphill task in keeping his job after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was defeated in a July 12 Tokyo metropolitan assembly elections. The election was seen as a referendum ahead of the national elections in October. Aso on his part told senior ruling party lawmakers that he planned to dissolve parliament's lower house as early as on July 141.
The LDP has also pledged to reduce the country’s parliament (from two chambers to one) and the number of legislators (by 30 percent over the next decade). Among other proposals, the LDP intends to restrict close relatives of lawmakers from inheriting their constitutional seats2.
Meanwhile, some reports suggested that Japanese Foreign Ministry bureaucrats had ordered the destruction of copies of a 1960 secret nuclear agreement between Japan and the US just before the information disclosure law took effect in 20013.
- 1. “Japan PM fights for job, eyes Aug. 8 poll: Report,” Reuters, July 12, 2009, at http://in.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idINT35340320090712?pageNumb...
- 2. “Japan LDP May Pledge Single-Chamber Parliament, Yomiuri Says,” Bloomberg, July 7, 2009, at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=ahpSC7GZqZdg
- 3. “Japan has tried to destroy secret nuke documents: report,” Xinhua, July 11, 2009, at http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/11/content_11691004.htm