Despite the tone of this article, which can be classified as a pro-Khan propoganda piece, it is now considered likely that Khan will be gone within the week (possibly in a no-confidence motion on June 5th). It is unlikely that the ruling coalition would long survive his fall, if at all. Interesting times ahead.
Shattered Tohoku communities angered, baffled over moves to topple Kan.
2011/06/01
Devastated by the loss of their homes, jobs and loved ones, thousands are still struggling to survive amid debris, shattered communities and the threat of radioactive contamination.
But when the victims of the March 11 disaster now look to the nation's lawmakers in Tokyo for help, they can only feel a sense of disgust.
"A no-confidence motion? Now is not the time for such matters," said a 47-year-old owner of a fish farm in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, whose home was destroyed in the tsunami.
Reports that the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito plan to submit a no-confidence motion this week in the Lower House against Prime Minister Naoto Kan's Cabinet have flabbergasted residents and officials in the Tohoku region.
"Once things become more settled in the regions struck by the disasters, they can go ahead and dissolve the Lower House any number of times that they want," said an 82-year-old resident of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, who has evacuated to a local junior high school. "If they dissolve it now, I will abstain from voting."
But the opposition parties show no signs of slowing down. They are still wooing lawmakers loyal to ruling Democratic Party of Japan power broker Ichiro Ozawa to support the motion that would force Kan to either have his Cabinet resign en masse or dissolve the Lower House for a snap election.
"It will be difficult to allow the Kan administration to be in charge of the rebuilding process," LDP chief Sadakazu Tanigaki said May 30. "We have to express our intention to take over from that administration."
However, officials of the prefectural governments of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima say that bringing a sense of normalcy to the devastated areas must come first.
"We are in a situation of having to delay the prefectural assembly election because elections cannot be held in our prefecture right now," Miyagi Governor Yoshihiro Murai said at a May 30 news conference. "It will be difficult to hold a Lower House election, especially in the municipalities along the coast."
In coastal municipalities, government officials in charge of election affairs now have their hands full with more pressing duties. They are issuing certificates to residents on claims for damages suffered from the disasters and handling procedures to distribute donations collected to help the victims.
Many facilities that had been used as voting sites and ballot counting locations were destroyed or washed away in the tsunami.
Masaaki Tobai, the deputy mayor of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, said:, "Even if a Lower House election were held, we would not participate. How can we possibly hold such an election?"
Tobai was put in charge of the town government after the incumbent mayor, Koki Kato, was killed in the tsunami. The town government building was also damaged.
Of the 15,000 Otsuchi residents, about 5,000 are still missing. Town officials have no way of finalizing any roster of voters.
A more urgent task for Otsuchi is holding a mayoral election. But considering the damage to the town, plans for a vote in August may prove impossible.
The anger in Fukushima Prefecture is even deeper, as about 35,000 residents have been evacuated outside the prefecture following the accident at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
About 40 percent of the 20,000 or so residents of Namie are now scattered throughout Japan, from as far north as Hokkaido to as far south as Okinawa.
Namie Mayor Tamotsu Baba, 62, would like to remind the lawmakers in Tokyo that there's still a nagging problem that must be dealt with: the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant.
"They should first make every effort to settle the situation at the nuclear plant," he said. "I feel anger at politicians who are engaged in actions" such as the no-confidence motion.
There is no guarantee the no-confidence motion will pass anyway.
The LDP only has 118 Lower House members, meaning it needs to bring about 80 DPJ members on board to pass the motion.
But few within the LDP expect many DPJ members to cross the party line.
Moreover, there is no unified view within the LDP of what form the new government should take if the Kan administration is toppled.
Ozawa and other anti-Kan elements in the DPJ are boasting they have enough votes to pass the no-confidence motion.
Ozawa is eager to push such a motion because if the Kan administration remains in power, Ozawa's influence within the party will weaken.
However, lawmakers close to Ozawa have also acknowledged that their constituents are highly critical of moves to join the no-confidence motion.
DPJ Secretary-General Katsuya Okada and other ruling party executives have warned that strict disciplinary measures would be taken against any member who either votes in favor of the motion or abstains from the vote.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105310388.html
