Japan readies for polls, dissolves lower House
17 Nov 2012 8:00 AM IST
Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the lower house of parliament on Friday for an election next month, in a political gamble widely expected to strip his centre-left party of power.
Japan's sixth new prime minister in as many years set the revolving door of premiership spinning against resistance from his fragmenting party, but after having stared down his opponents over crucial legislation.
‘I want to seek a mandate from the people,’ Noda told reporters in the morning as he arrived at the prime minister's office ahead of a cabinet meeting.
The dissolution itself was a brief affair, with the lower house speaker reading a short promulgation prepared by the premier and endorsed by Emperor Akihito, the constitutional head of state.
An extraordinary meeting of the cabinet was to be held later Friday, at which 16 December is expected to be formally announced as election day.
Noda has been under pressure to call elections for months and offered dissolution of the main decision-making chamber in a parliamentary debate earlier this week.
Japan's sixth new prime minister in as many years set the revolving door of premiership spinning against resistance from his fragmenting party, but after having stared down his opponents over crucial legislation.
‘I want to seek a mandate from the people,’ Noda told reporters in the morning as he arrived at the prime minister's office ahead of a cabinet meeting.
The dissolution itself was a brief affair, with the lower house speaker reading a short promulgation prepared by the premier and endorsed by Emperor Akihito, the constitutional head of state.
An extraordinary meeting of the cabinet was to be held later Friday, at which 16 December is expected to be formally announced as election day.
Noda has been under pressure to call elections for months and offered dissolution of the main decision-making chamber in a parliamentary debate earlier this week.
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