Poll shows Abe cabinet support below key level
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was forced to reprimand his defence minister over a gaffe yesterday, as his cabinet's support rates slid below the critical 30 per cent level in a poll weeks before an upper house election.
Government mismanagement of pension records and voter concern about political corruption have left Abe struggling to win back support ahead of the July 29 election.
He was dealt a fresh blow on Saturday when Defence Minister Kyuma sparked public anger by saying he thought the United States atomic bomb attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II "could not be helped".
Kyuma later apologised, but opposition lawmakers called for his resignation after the latest in a series of gaffes.
Leaders of four opposition parties gathered yesterday with atomic bomb victims to demand that Kyuma resign.
"Of course we are demanding the resignation of Minister Kyuma, but at the same time, the responsibility of the Abe cabinet and Prime Minister Abe, who continue to protect him, is very grave," senior Communist Party lawmaker Tadayoshi Ichida told the gathering. He said he wanted to call Kyuma to testify before a parliamentary budget committee to explain his remarks.
Abe urged Kyuma to "take strict care with his remarks", the defence minister told reporters after the two held a meeting at the prime minister's official residence yesterday.
Abe said later in the day that he would not sack Kyuma.
The blunder comes at a bad time for Abe. Only 28 per cent of those who responded to a weekend Asahi newspaper poll said they supported him, down from 31 per cent in the previous survey a week earlier and the weakest result for the once popular leader since he came to office last September. Some 48 per cent of respondents to the survey said they did not support the prime minister.
A separate poll by Jiji news agency in June put Abe's support at 28.8 per cent the first time a Japanese prime minister's support rate had fallen below 30 per cent since 2001. The gaffe-prone prime minister at that time, Yoshiro Mori, was swiftly replaced to improve the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's chances in an upper house election that year.Reuters
Government mismanagement of pension records and voter concern about political corruption have left Abe struggling to win back support ahead of the July 29 election.
He was dealt a fresh blow on Saturday when Defence Minister Kyuma sparked public anger by saying he thought the United States atomic bomb attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II "could not be helped".
Kyuma later apologised, but opposition lawmakers called for his resignation after the latest in a series of gaffes.
Leaders of four opposition parties gathered yesterday with atomic bomb victims to demand that Kyuma resign.
"Of course we are demanding the resignation of Minister Kyuma, but at the same time, the responsibility of the Abe cabinet and Prime Minister Abe, who continue to protect him, is very grave," senior Communist Party lawmaker Tadayoshi Ichida told the gathering. He said he wanted to call Kyuma to testify before a parliamentary budget committee to explain his remarks.
Abe urged Kyuma to "take strict care with his remarks", the defence minister told reporters after the two held a meeting at the prime minister's official residence yesterday.
Abe said later in the day that he would not sack Kyuma.
The blunder comes at a bad time for Abe. Only 28 per cent of those who responded to a weekend Asahi newspaper poll said they supported him, down from 31 per cent in the previous survey a week earlier and the weakest result for the once popular leader since he came to office last September. Some 48 per cent of respondents to the survey said they did not support the prime minister.
A separate poll by Jiji news agency in June put Abe's support at 28.8 per cent the first time a Japanese prime minister's support rate had fallen below 30 per cent since 2001. The gaffe-prone prime minister at that time, Yoshiro Mori, was swiftly replaced to improve the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's chances in an upper house election that year.Reuters
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