PUBLIC SUPPORT for Japanese prime minister Taro Aso has fallen sharply since the high-profile resignation of his interior minister laid bare divisions in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
A clutch of opinion polls published by domestic media in recent days suggests the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) is increasingly well-placed to achieve what would be a historic victory over the LDP at a general election, to be held by October.
The polls, conducted after the departure last Friday of Kunio Hatoyama, showed marked falls in backing for Mr Aso, who had enjoyed a recovery in support as Japan’s recession-hit economy stabilised and the DPJ became mired in a funding scandal.
“For the first time in three months . . . the Aso cabinet is back in ‘dangerous waters’ for the survival of the administration,” said the Nikkei Shimbun business daily, which found support for the cabinet had fallen five points to 25 per cent since its poll in May. Other polls put support for the cabinet at less than 20 per cent. Most suggested a large margin of voters believed Mr Aso had mishandled the cabinet dispute over Japan’s state-owned postal system that led to Mr Hatoyama’s departure.
Mr Hatoyama stepped down after Mr Aso refused to back him in a dispute with Japan Post sparked by the state-owned company’s abortive plans to sell a hotel chain to a leasing firm, a feud that divided the cabinet and inflamed differences between the LDP’s conservative and reformist wings.
Mr Hatoyama had sought to block the reappointment of Japan Post’s president, a stance the mass circulation Yomiuri Shimbun found was backed by 65 per cent of voters.
The Mainichi daily reported that those who disapproved of Mr Aso’s decision to allow the president to stay on outnumbered those who backed him by three to one.
The opinion polls are certain to fuel gloom within the LDP, which alone or in coalition has ruled Japan for all but 11 months of the past five decades. “[I] stopped reading today’s newspapers after seeing the headlines,” Kyodo news agency quoted finance minister Kaoru Yosano as saying.
Mr Aso was further hit at the weekend by the defeat of an LDP-backed candidate in mayoral voting in the eastern city of Chiba by the DPJ-supported Toshihito Kumagai, who at 31 became Japan’s youngest mayor.
The DPJ tapped widespread dissatisfaction with the existing political order by promoting Mr Kumagai as “young, with no experience in politics and no money”.
Mr Aso could also be vulnerable to an unfolding scandal involving alleged official collusion in the abuse of concessionary postal rates for people with disabilities, which has led to the arrest of a senior welfare ministry official.
The official has reputedly denied any wrongdoing.
With voters citing a lack of leadership as the cabinet’s biggest problem, analysts say the LDP could seek to oust Mr Aso if the party performs poorly at the much-watched Tokyo municipal elections on July 12th.
Opinion polls highlight the DPJ’s continuing failure to translate dissatisfaction with the LDP into widespread enthusiasm.
The Mainichi said 32 per cent of its respondents thought DPJ president Yukio Hatoyama would be an appropriate choice for prime minister, while only 15 per cent said the same of Mr Aso.
However, 46 per cent responded that neither party leader was worthy of the premiership. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)