Mori no-confidence vote delayed

Mori is under increasing pressure to resign

TOKYO, Japan -- Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori can breathe a sigh of relief, at least temporarily. Opposition parties have put off a no-confidence vote against him until next week.

Nozomu Yamaguchi, an official with the Social Democratic Party, explained that the opposition needed time to get more support, but added that the motion against Mori would be filed in the lower house on Monday.

The no-confidence motion was expected to be filed Friday after budget hearings in the lower house. It cannot be carried unless it is supported by members of the ruling coalition, which controls 277 of the 480-member lower house.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Makoto Koga vowed to block the motion, saying: "The coalition parties intend to vote down the no-confidence motion."

"It is my responsibility not to see dissidents emerge from LDP members," he added.

Whether or not the motion succeeds, it would cause further embarrassment to Mori, whose popularity rating has dipped to a new low of less than 10 percent.

Seen as a liability to the ruling coalition as July elections approach, Mori is under intense pressure to resign ahead of the LDP convention on March 13.

Series of gaffes

Monday's motion will be the second Mori has faced since he assumed office less than a year ago after the death of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi.

Japan's unemployment rate has gone up, as the Nikkei plunges

Mori narrowly survived an earlier motion, in November, when a faction within his own ruling party was persuaded at the last minute to drop support for it.

Leaders of Japan's four main opposition parties earlier agreed to submit the motion immediately after the 2001 budget was passed in the lower house of Parliament, but later backed down.

The house budget committee began final debate on the budget Friday afternoon, and a vote in a plenary session was scheduled for Friday night until the change of timing.

Since taking office in April Mori has been embroiled in several scandals ranging from allegations of personal misconduct to remarks echoing the jingoism of Japan's wartime leadership.

Mori has been criticized for a series of gaffes, the latest being his decision to stay on a golf course even after hearing that the U.S. submarine Greeneville rammed into the fishing vessel Ehime Maru.

He has also been accused of personal misconduct and blamed for Japan's lack of economic reform.

On Friday, the government announced that unemployment levels were at a record high again in January. On Thursday, Tokyo stock prices hit a 15-year low.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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