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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Japan PM pledges 'fresh start' after poll defeat AFP - Wednesday, July 14 Send IM Story Print Japan PM pledges 'fresh start' after poll defeat TOKYO (AFP) - – Japan's prime minister pledged a "fresh start" and appealed for cabinet unity Tuesday as he faced pressure from within his own party over a stinging weekend defeat in upper house polls. "I hope you will cooperate with me, as I have decided to address issues facing this country and seek reforms with a united cabinet," Naoto Kan told his ministers, according to top government spokesman Yoshito Sengoku. Kan, in office for just over a month, apologised for turning voters off with talk of a possible tax hike before Sunday's election, in which his centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lost its majority in the upper chamber. "Because of my comments I forced you to face a harsh election. I want to make a fresh start," Kan said. "The cabinet must be united to address the country's challenges and to bring reforms. I call for your cooperation." Ahead of the election, Kan had raised the possibility of doubling the five percent sales tax to restore Japan's tattered finances. Japan's public debt is nearing 200 percent of gross domestic product, the world's highest. In a post-election telephone survey conducted by the Kyodo News agency and released Tuesday, disapproval ratings for Kan's cabinet shot up to 52 percent, far surpassing the 36 percent approval rate. His finance minister said on Tuesday there was "no doubt" that the tax comments had hurt the government but nonetheless maintained that a sales tax hike was inevitable in order to reduce Japan's massive public debt. "I take the people's election results seriously," said Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, but added: "We will make a start by calling for cooperation from other parties on a drastic tax reform, including the consumption tax." Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned on Monday it might lower Japan's credit rating if the government fails to implement "meaningful" fiscal reforms. Kan is Japan's fifth premier in four years. He took over when predecessor Yukio Hatoyama resigned in early June over political funding scandals and after bungling a dispute over an unpopular US military base. The election rout -- in which only the opposition conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the smaller Your Party made gains -- was seen as a referendum on 10 months of DPJ rule under its two premiers. One of the victims was Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, who lost her seat in the House of Councillors. However, she was asked by Kan to stay in her ministerial post for now -- possibly until a September DPJ conference. At that party meeting, when Kan is expected to reshuffle his cabinet, he may face attacks from party rivals -- among them former secretary general and "Shadow Shogun" Ichiro Ozawa -- say political observers. Ozawa, a veteran wheeler-dealer, controls a powerful DPJ faction but was forced to step down along with Hatoyama over a political funding scandal. "In the past some politicians have used upper house ballots... to bring down the premier," said Tomoaki Iwai, politics professor at Nihon University. But he added: "I doubt that Mr Ozawa can do anything at the moment. If he forces Mr Kan out of the premier's post, Mr Ozawa will be the Japanese people's public enemy number one." Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa suggested the party must change its top officials to take responsibility for the poll defeat, telling reporters: "It is necessary for the party to somehow draw a line." But he defended the prime minister, saying with a nod to Japan's rotating door leadership of recent years: "It would be troublesome if the prime minister were changed once every season." 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