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Japan poll
Premier dissolves parliament in election lead-up
Article published on the 2009-07-21 Latest update 2009-07-21 11:00 TU
Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso, centre, attends a session Tuesday to announce the dissolution of the parliament's lower house.
(Photo: Reuters)
Japan's Prime Minister, Taro Aso, has dissolved the nation’s parliament and called a national election that will likely end his party's half century of almost unbroken rule.
Aso, who is sorely lagging in opinion polls and has struggled to quell internal party revolt, called early elections after his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost control of Tokyo's municipal assembly. He also offered a rare apology to his party for the government's sagging support.
"My statements and what has been characterised as my changing policy positions have led the Japanese people to worry about and grow distrustful of politics," Aso said shortly before the lower house was dissolved. "As a result, the approval rating for the Liberal Democratic Party has fallen. I am deeply sorry."
On Tuesday morning, the cabinet gave formal backing to Aso's plan. Opinion polls suggest the LDP could lose heavily to the opposition Democratic Party of Japan in the 30 August vote.
A succession of local election defeats, most recently in key Tokyo assembly polls this month, has prompted rebel members of the LDP to try to push Aso out of power so the party can face the election under another leader.
Aso took office in September as the world's number two economy was sliding deep into recession amid the global economic downturn. His party has governed Japan continuously since its foundation in 1955, except for a ten-month stretch in the early 1990s.
 PM dissolves parliament ahead of general election |
