Opposition steps up pressure on Aso to resign

Thursday 19th February, 02:45 PM JST

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tmarie at 03:40 PM JST - 19th February

5 in 2 years... Way to go Japan...
Iwrotethis at 03:44 PM JST - 19th February

I would imagine the party is hanging on waiting for citizens to get their 12,000 yen bribe before calling the election, but it seems they can't even get that organised with the date of it having been rolled back a number of times.
czykent at 04:23 PM JST - 19th February

Time to settle down and get a stable leader,Japan....
moonbeams at 04:31 PM JST - 19th February

This just illustrates the foolishness of the opposition.

Do they really, really want to lose??

Aso is their golden ticket to power. Getting rid of him will risk everything. Ugh..
williamsmith at 04:44 PM JST - 19th February

Call elections to get the public mandate, or step down immediately!
tmarie at 04:52 PM JST - 19th February

What I don't understand is why other parties are not demanding he step down and why the public is putting up with less than 10% support in a leader. There would be riots in the streets of other countries with those numbers.

The sheeple deserve to have such a crappy leader but sadly I live here too and am paying the price.
Shumatsu_Samurai at 05:07 PM JST - 19th February

There would be riots in the streets of other countries with those numbers.

I didn't see riots in the US or Taiwan - they had unpopular leaders.

The sheeple deserve to have such a crappy leader but sadly I live here too and am paying the price.

Yeah, shame that Japanese are law-abiding and wait until elections to vent their frustration. Of course you forget that if there were riots you might just possibly be on the receiving end.
tkoind2 at 05:16 PM JST - 19th February

I hate to say it Japan. BUT I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!

Aso is an incompetent fool. As just about everyone but the LDP knew well before he was dropped into office. His staff are an incompetent collection of his buddies. Far better at screw ups than their jobs. And the the rotting LDP corpse is starting to stink.

Call an election and get on with sorting out the country. How much lower than 10% do you need to go before you stop smiling and get out of the way Aso? You have exceeded even my expectations for how terrible you would be in office. At least Fukuda was smart enough to bail out. And who couldn't feel sorry for Abe when the job nearly killed the poor man?

But you Aso. You are a pathetic clown smiling and joking your way around town as PM while the nation sinks into unknown depths of economic decline.
Mark_McCracken at 05:16 PM JST - 19th February

I didn't see riots in the US or Taiwan - they had unpopular leaders.

True, but Bush, even in his lowest ratings, was about twice as popular as Aso.
roomtemperature at 06:41 PM JST - 19th February

"True, but Bush, even in his lowest ratings, was about twice as popular as Aso."

True, but how long was Bush in the White House?
temporaryVisa at 11:13 PM JST - 19th February

What does it matter what crony they push forward to embarress themselves next. It is just to be hoped that when power is ripped away from the LDPs cold dead hands the general population isn't dumb enough to vote them straight back into office as they have done for an eternity now.
Simon_Foston at 11:24 PM JST - 19th February

The prime minister got a bit of good news Thursday, however. The Asahi, a major newspaper, released results of a survey that showed 30 out of 47 local ruling party chapters said the Liberal Democratic Party should keep Aso until elections are held, rather than sacking him and having another leader take over.

I wouldn't call the endorsement of a bunch of half-senile yokels good news. However, it's no bad thing if this serves to remind people that if they want someone to blame for this prize idiot becoming Prime Minister, they need look no further than their local LDP chapters and representatives.
meanmutha at 02:05 AM JST - 20th February

ldp resign.
mushroomcloud at 04:57 AM JST - 20th February

Place your bets.

How many days, weeks, or months does Aso and his cabinet have before collapsing?

I really thought that Aso could last for 1 year.
AlfGarnett at 05:14 AM JST - 20th February

Don't Japanese have votes of no confidence in the government to force an election. Strewth, if this Aso bloke has less than 10% of public support an taht, then surely he must call an election as part of his public duty, after all he are a public servant less we forget.