Japan parliament rejects Mori censure

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's popularity remains at an all-time low

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's upper house of parliament have thrown out an opposition move to censure Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

The non-binding censure motion was meant to highlight the ambiguity of Mori's position in the wake of a compromise that keeps him in office, while paving the way for him to step down.

The motion was not expected to pass, since Mori's coalition holds a majority in the chamber.

Public approval for the prime minister is the lowest it has been for any head of government in Japan since World War 2.

Mori has said he would not step down before the budget for this fiscal year's beginning April 1 is passed. He has also planned meetings with U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month.

On Tuesday, the prime minister indicated he would bring forward the elections for his party's president. The poll was originally scheduled for September.

Economics first, politics later

The policy chief of Mori's Liberal Democratic Party says he's inclined to put these polls aside, in the interest of implementing emergency economic measures.

Shizuka Kamei said putting proposals designed to boost the economy in place would likely drag into May, and he questioned whether it was appropriate for the Liberal Democratic Party to hold elections during that time.

Kamei said he expected data for gross domestic product for the January-March quarter to be worse than expected.

He said that if the government didn't implement the already proposed measures, growth in the April-June period would be seriously threatened.

"We cannot face the Upper House elections [scheduled for July] without implementing emergency economic steps," Kamei said.

The package of proposals were unveiled last Friday. They're aimed at boosting Tokyo's sagging stock market, which on Monday hit a fresh 16 year low.

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