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Censure Motion Against Japanese PM Rejected
A censure motion submitted by opposition parties against Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori was voted down by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two coalition partners in the House of Councilors on Wednesday.
The motion was rejected in the 252-seat upper house by 138 votes to 105.
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Liberal Party (LP), the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Mushozoku No Kai, a parliamentary group, proposed the non-binding motion to demand that Mori resign immediately.
The opposition camp said Mori, who has signaled his intention to resign by proposing to bring forward the LDP presidential election, should not be allowed to continue in his job any further.
The censure motion was the second in the Upper House against Mori during his 11 months in office. The first one was voted down in May last year.
Public support for Mori has dropped to single-digit levels in recent surveys after a year of verbal blunders and scandals.
The Japanese prime minister sparked fresh outrage last month by continuing a golf game after being informed about the sinking of the Japanese fisheries training ship Ehime Maru by a US Navy submarine in a collision off Hawaii.
The censure motion also followed the rejection of a no-confidence motion submitted by the four opposition parties against Mori's cabinet in the House of Representatives on March 5.
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