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Japan opposition lead vanishes as chief faces woes
Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:48am EDT
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By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's main opposition Democratic Party has lost its lead among voters ahead of a looming election, a poll showed on Friday, adding to pressure on its leader to quit over a scandal that has ensnared a close aide.
Surveys before the scandal broke had shown the Democrats ahead, fanning expectations of a victory that would end more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and help break a political deadlock that has held back Japan's response to a deepening recession.
Party leader Ichiro Ozawa said on Tuesday that he would stay in his post after prosecutors charged a close aide with accepting illegal corporate donations.
But he left the door open to resigning if voter support slid, endangering the chances of defeating the ruling party in an election that must be held by October.
In a disturbing sign for the opposition, a poll by the mass circulation Yomiuri newspaper showed the Democrats running neck and neck with Prime Minister Taro Aso's LDP.
Thirty-one percent of voters said they would cast their ballots for the Democrats -- down three points from earlier this month -- while the same percentage planned to opt for the LDP -- up seven points. An election must be held by October.
SITUATION COULD WORSEN
Ozawa apologized on Friday to Democratic members of parliament's upper house and sought their understanding but one lawmaker worried that the party's situation could deteriorate.
"There is no need to react to each and every opinion poll," Keiichiro Asao, who holds the opposition defense portfolio, told reporters.
"If what the party has said so far is persuasive to the public, they opinion polls will probably change. But if it turns out that what we have been saying is different from the facts, then the situation could become even worse."
The Democrats' woes have given the unpopular Aso a bit of a boost, with more voters now preferring him over Ozawa as premier, a reversal of Ozawa's previous lead.
But while support for Aso's government rose, it was still only 23.2 percent and more than two-thirds of voters declined to give him their backing.
Aso's ratings have suffered from a series of gaffes and policy flip-flops, while the LDP has not been immune from fallout from the funding scandal.
LDP lawmakers including Trade Minister Toshihiro Nikai have acknowledged accepting donations from the construction firm at the heart of the fundraising scandal, although they have denied any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, a vice finance minister stepped down after violating an ethics code that bans stock trading. Continued...
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