Mori faces censure motion

TOKYO, MARCH 13. Japanese Opposition parties today tabled a motion of censure against the embattled Prime Minister, Mr. Yoshiro Mori, demanding his immediate resignation.

``We submitted a censure motion against Mori to the upper House this morning to demand his immediate resignation,'' said an official from the Communist Party of Japan.

``The Prime Minister has lost public confidence with approval ratings falling below 10 per cent. He is producing nothing but gaffes and scandals,'' the official said.

The Communist Party joined the largest Opposition Democratic Party of Japan, two other Opposition parties and one independent parliamentary group to bring the censure motion against Mr. Mori.

The vote on the motion is expected to take place tomorrow, the Jiji press news agency said. Even if passed, the censure has only moral weight and is not legally binding.

On Saturday, Mr. Mori told five top LDP powerbrokers to advance the party's election, originally scheduled for September, in a move hailed by newspapers here as tantamount to his resignation.

But adding to mounting public confusion and anger over the future of the premiership, the hugely unpopular Mr. Mori yesterday denied the decision meant he was planning to quit.

Mr. Mori today promised to hold an emergency election next month to choose his successor but kept mum on his resignation. ``We are facing extremely severe criticism. I am determined to devote myself to reforming our party,'' Mr. Mori told the LDP annual convention here.

``We will bring forward our presidential election which was originally planned for this autumn in a form which will reflect a wide range of opinion,'' he said.

Mr. Mori, who blamed his unpopularity on bad press, said the election next month would choose a stop-gap successor to him for a few months until the upper House elections in July.

- PTI

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Section  : International
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