Japanese Opposition Parties Submit No-Confidence Motion Against CabinetJapan's four opposition parties on Monday morning submitted to the House of Representatives a no- confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's cabinet.The four parties were the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Liberal Party (LP), the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). A vote on the motion will be held at a House of Representatives plenary session in the afternoon, but the motion is expected to be voted down by Mori's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its two coalition partners, the New Komeito party and the New Conservative Party (NCP), which hold a majority in the lower house. Mori is facing growing calls for resignation over a string of verbal gaffes and scandals as well as over his handling of the February 9 sinking of a Japanese high school fisheries training ship off Hawaii by a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine. Public support ratings for Mori's cabinet have dropped to below 10 percent in recent surveys, prompting calls for his resignation from lawmakers within the ruling parties, who are worried they will take a beating in July's House of Councilors election if Mori stays in office. |
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