Should Prime Minister Shinzo Abe now resign?

[EmperorHirohito]

Japan has just been to the polls and has been voting for half the seats in the Diet's 242 member upper house.
With early predictions saying his party is losing seats and that he faces the prospect that he may have to resign as a result.

So do you think :-

a) He should do nothing at all, after all it is only the upper house, his party holds a majority in the lower house.

b) He should resign as soon as possible and let someone else become Prime Minister.

c) He should call a snap election and let the voting public either choose a new government or vote Mr Abe's party back into power.


Have fun people :)

[Mikawa Ossan]

I've never been an Abe fan. Still, I don't think he should resign, although I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

[KirinMan]

I doubt if he will given the embarrassing defeat his party suffered yesterday, but I voted for calling an election. In this atmosphere I dont think a total change in power would be out of the question.

I also think he should resign, not only for the election defeat, but for all the scandals that have permeated his cabinet as well.

[EmperorHirohito]

From what Ive read on the net over here, he has decided not to resign, maybe a cabinet reshuffle is needed, lets see what happens next..............

[KirinMan]

From what Ive read on the net over here, he has decided not to resign, maybe a cabinet reshuffle is needed, lets see what happens next..............

Starting with him would still be the best imo.

[EmperorHirohito]

From what Ive read he doesnt seem in much of a hurry to resign :-

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to stay in his job despite a drubbing for his party in an upper house election.

The 52-year-old said: "I am determined to carry out my promises although the situation is severe. We need to restore the people's trust in the country and the government."

He added: "We must take these results very seriously and reflecting on what we must reflect on. I want to fulfil my responsibility to proceed with reform to build the nation and promote economic growth that the people can feel."

Political analysts have predicted that the leader will come under pressure to step down after his second-in-command resigned.

The election stripped Mr Abe's coalition of its upper house majority in his first big electoral test since taking office ten months ago.

The soft-spoken, once-popular PM still faces pressure to step down from within his own Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for most of the past five decades.

Former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba was quoted as saying Mr Abe "should quit", adding: "If he doesn't, the LDP will be finished."

However, a lack of suitable successors in the party could help him survive, analysts said.

The LDP and its partner, New Komeito, won 46 seats compared with 60 for the Democrats. The ruling coalition had needed 64 to keep its majority in the upper house, where half of the 242 seats were up for grabs.

The LDP alone won only 37 seats, worse than a loss in 1998 that forced Ryutaro Hashimoto to resign as prime minister.

That leaves the ruling bloc with just 103 upper house seats in total, down from 133 before the poll, Kyodo news agency said. Final official results will not be available until late Tuesday.

But, without a ruling bloc majority, Mr Abe will find it difficult to pass laws, threatening legislative paralysis.

The election loss comes on top of a global shake-out in markets, and the two factors combined to push the Nikkei stock index to a four-month low.


Maybe he could be ousted by a vote of No Confidence.........

[Dutch Baka]

I think it's to early to resign, but I do think that he should scratch at the back of his head again, and rethink some of the things. Maybe if the same thing would happen within the upcoming 6 months, than he should resign.

[KirinMan]

But, without a ruling bloc majority, Mr Abe will find it difficult to pass laws, threatening legislative paralysis.
Our word for today borrowed from the US government.......
Gridlock

and Abe is going to be taking the heat for not being able to get things accomplished. Send the lower house home and call elections, if a change is coming let it come.

The sooner the better in my opinion. Let's not forget though that the opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichiro_Ozawa) was once a member of the LDP as well.

[Dogen Z]

He should resign now. He' so out of touch with the populace. He doesn't believe the election had anything to do with his policies. While the economy is still just pumping on one cylinder (exports), bankruptcies are still sky high, domestic consumer demand is low, and small to medium enterprises are struggling to survive. His attention is focused on changing article 9 of the constitution. LEAVE IT ALONE! The world needs more, not less, pacifist models.

We need an alternative but who? :worried: Let's see...

Ozawa? :okashii:
Fujimori? :auch:
Horiemon? :sick:
Ishihara? :balloon: (joking :-))

I think we need Fujiwara. :cool: Norika Fujiwara for PM!!!:D She has my vote.

[EmperorHirohito]

Fujiwara would get my vote, if I had one lol :blush:

Still think Abe should do the decent thing and resign!

[Sukotto]

None of my business...........................

[Sukotto]

None of my business...........................



However, if he supports GW's continued war criminal illegal occupation of Iraq, I think he should change his mind and not support it.

[EmperorHirohito]

If anyone supports Dubya then they could be in a great deal of trouble. From what Ive been told Dubya has just had a bill passed into law, very quietly, that gives him the power, in the event of another terrorist attack on American soil, to declare martial law and suspend all political elections of any type, until such time as he determines there is no threat to mainland America.

[Han Chan]

None of my business...........................
Actually I thought about answering the same, but as Abe obviously got a indirect no-confidence vote from the public, I find that the best democratic pactrice would be to call for a parliament election.

[Sarapva]

If anyone supports Dubya then they could be in a great deal of trouble. From what Ive been told Dubya has just had a bill passed into law, very quietly, that gives him the power, in the event of another terrorist attack on American soil, to declare martial law and suspend all political elections of any type, until such time as he determines there is no threat to mainland America.

Yikes!! I haven't heard about this yet! Let's hope Nov. 2008 gets here quickly!

[Sukotto]

I've been reading an article just today about an Executive Order (are those even in the US constitution?) that is worded in such a way as anybody who
undermines “efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people.”

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/04/2968/

Maybe they mean people bombing or even protesting or doing civil disobedience in Iraq against the illegal occupation,
and have been just incompetent in writing the thing.
Supporters (are there any left) of Bush may scoff that such could ever be used against dissenting US citizens, but
if so, why don't they rewrite to clarify?

Maybe I should look into renewing my passport before it expires...

I wish we could vote "no confidence" on Bush.
The closest thing we have is the impeachment, but Democrat party leaders have said "impeachment is off the table".
I've written the congress person in my area in support of impeachment, even if there is only one month left before a new person takes over. For history's sake.
Venezuela, which is often criticized by the US gov't and the US mainstream corporate media, has put a clause in their new constitution that allows for a president to be voted out of office half way through a president's term.

[Mars Man]

If anyone supports Dubya then they could be in a great deal of trouble. From what Ive been told Dubya has just had a bill passed into law, very quietly, that gives him the power, in the event of another terrorist attack on American soil, to declare martial law and suspend all political elections of any type, until such time as he determines there is no threat to mainland America.

Now...this made me think--which I do do sometimes, folks. . .

Maybe that guy who had claimed to have come back from the future in some kind of time-machine that the American Military had been secretly working on was right afterall !! He had said that there had been another civil war in the States and that....blah, blah, blah....

If something like that martial law were to go down...I could see a civil war breaking out. Oh holy cow on the moon with the spoon...Let's all pray to Zeus this does not happen !!

[Apple123]

I don't think he should resign because he got on well with other Asian countries .

[GodEmperorLeto]

Maybe that guy who had claimed to have come back from the future in some kind of time-machine that the American Military had been secretly working on was right afterall !! He had said that there had been another civil war in the States and that....blah, blah, blah....
johntitor.com (http://www.johntitor.com/)? :lol:

From what Ive been told Dubya has just had a bill passed into law, very quietly, that gives him the power, in the event of another terrorist attack on American soil, to declare martial law and suspend all political elections of any type, until such time as he determines there is no threat to mainland America.
Absolute grade-A horse-s**t. With all the media watchdogs up his backside with a vengeance, it'd be impossible for him to pass that law. Especially since it would be the Democratic-party-dominated Congress who would have drafted it in the first place! Remember, in the U.S., the LEGISLATURE drafts bills. Dubya only signs them into law. And there's no way that Congress would draft a bill like that. Not even Republicans, especially since they know there is a good chance they'd end up with a Democratic president with emergency powers after 2008.

I wish we could vote "no confidence" on Bush.

Look at the countries with "no confidence" elections and you'll see nations with a history of internal political turmoil and a definite lack of stable policies. People are fickle. Pericles, Cleon, and Demonsthenes knew it. Jefferson, Jay, Adams, Washington, and Franklin knew it. Hence, no-confidence votes were left out of the U.S. Constitution. The tyranny of the masses is just as important to avoid as the tyranny of one.

Especially since the masses are generally stupider than Dubya. I mean, come on, reality TV? American Idol and Survivor are still on the air. The consumer masses are most certainly dumber than the current president.

Anyway, Abe is prime minister. I think people should just wait and let him ride out his term. They voted for him, now they have to face the consequences. Personally, I think if people considered consequences before voting, a lot fewer morons would be running the world right now.

Fujiwara should consider running for shogun, not PM.

And besides, isn't she an actress?

[Han Chan]

[QUOTE=GodEmperorLeto;508965]johntitor.com (http://www.johntitor.com/)
Anyway, Abe is prime minister. I think people should just wait and let him ride out his term. They voted for him, now they have to face the consequences. [QUOTE]
Actually, Abe was not elected by the people as candidate for PM. He was appointed when Koizumi chose to stand down. There was a lot of "horse trading" going on at that time and clearly Abe became the most successful compromise candidate within LDP. He used to be spokesperson for the Government, but since he became PM he has not proved himself capable of providing any real leadership of the Government. Actually his support ratings are now extremely low.

[EmperorHirohito]

GodEmperorLeto thank you for your reply. I do hope that martial law is never introduced in the USA, I think it could lead to another Civil War.
As to the bill being passed without knowledge, who knows what clauses and sub-clauses are in the Patriot Act.

And as you are now reading the end of my post, there are people out there who believe that 9/11 was staged, something to do with the asbestos in the towers and that the owner was told to get rid of it. But thats just another conspiracy theory for the world to think about.

Also it does look as if Mr Abe still doesnt intend to resign, oh well.

[SushiShin]

dunno, but this guy should do nothing. he has to rethink his life and if makes mistakes again then he would better resign.

[GodEmperorLeto]

Actually, Abe was not elected by the people as candidate for PM. He was appointed when Koizumi chose to stand down. There was a lot of "horse trading" going on at that time and clearly Abe became the most successful compromise candidate within LDP.
No kidding. This I didn't know. I thought when Koizumi quit, they had another election, looks like I was wrong. Kind of a Gerald Ford thing, huh? Interesting. I'm not surprised, then, that the approval ratings stink for him.

As to the bill being passed without knowledge, who knows what clauses and sub-clauses are in the Patriot Act.
Wikipedia is your friend. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_act)

Granted, it's not the A-1 source for all knowledge, but you can find the Patriot Act itself through those links, and read it for yourself.

Out of curiosity, exactly why do you guys think Abe is doing such a bad job? Personally, it seems to me that he's somewhat of a Japanese neo-con, and his attempts to re-introduce legal offensive military capabilities into the Japanese constitution have garnered the wrath of a lot of people, and I also know about Towards a Beautiful Country, but I'd like to see what you guys think.

[EmperorHirohito]

Guess we will never find out what he wanted to do in the future as he has now resigned. Took him nearly six weeks to do it since polling day.

[dongdong]

He was just a rightist. No different from Koizumi.

[General Lee]

Do they still commit hari kari when dishonored and relieved of their post for failure to complete their assignment completely and successfully?

Or is that of the past?