Japan General Election Won't Come in January, LDP's Hosoda Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aktpZdrY.qHY

By Takashi Hirokawa and Aya Takada

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's prime minister won't dissolve parliament around Christmas and call a general election in January, the ruling party's No. 2 official said today, rejecting an opposition leader's call for an early vote.

``The timing is delayed a little further,'' Hiroyuki Hosoda, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, said when asked on Fuji TV if the lower house may disband around Dec. 25. Yukio Hatoyama, secretary-general of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, earlier on the same program said the ruling coalition could dissolve the house in late December after submitting its budget for next year.

Prime Minister Taro Aso indicated on Oct. 30 he would delay an election until the global financial crisis subsides, promising to pump 5 trillion yen ($51 billion) into the economy to help households and small businesses.

An LDP internal poll predicted the party would lose a lower house election, the Nikkei newspaper reported Oct. 30. The DPJ would take more than 240 of 480 seats, the newspaper said, without saying how it obtained the poll data. The LDP has ruled Japan for all but 10 months since it was founded in 1955.


Aso's disapproval rating exceeded his support for the first time since he took office in September, the Yomiuri newspaper said last week, citing its own survey. A Mainichi newspaper poll on Oct. 20 showed 48 percent of respondents wanted the DPJ to win the next election, compared with 36 percent for the LDP.

Aso succeeded Yasuo Fukuda, who resigned less than a year after his predecessor Shintaro Abe quit. The prime minister must call an election by next September, when the five-year term of the current lower house expires.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo thirokawa@bloomberg.netAya Takada in Tokyo atakada2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 9, 2008 00:48 EST