Japan PM weakened by party revolt

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces a party revolt, a fate usually reserved for long-standing leaders, not those having been in power less than a year. A group of ruling party lawmakers mutinied Thursday in a move that threatens Kan's reform agenda and imperils his leadership.

A total of 16 lower house members loyal to powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, asked to leave the party's group in Parliament and said that the government could not count on their support in future crucial votes.

If the rebels fail to vote with Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), it could spell doom for the government, which is already short of the two-thirds lower house majority needed to push through bills rejected by the upper house.

The mutineers said they were protesting Kan's weak leadership and his failure to meet pledges made by the DPJ when it swept to power in 2009, after breaking half a century of conservative rule.

The party executive rejected their request to leave the Diet group - but their bold move threw a spotlight on a deep party split as a Jiji Press poll showed an anemic 17.8 percent of public support for the Kan administration.

The prime minister, who took power last June, has struggled to tackle entrenched economic and social woes at a time when the conservative opposition controls the upper house and has threatened to block crucial budget bills.

Japan's economy, in the doldrums for two decades and hobbled by a graying population, was overtaken by China as Asia's biggest and also faces stiff competition from export powerhouse South Korea.

Kan's headaches have been compounded by his nemesis, Ozawa, a powerful faction boss sometimes dubbed the "Shadow Shogun," who last year narrowly failed in a bid to oust Kan.

Ozawa will soon stand trial over political funding irregularities that have seen three of his former aides indicted, but all four deny the charges.

This week, the DPJ leadership moved to suspend Ozawa from the party, triggering the revolt by 16 of his supporters.

AFP