It’s about time

Japan’s PM ‘to call August vote’

Japan’s embattled Prime Minister, Taro Aso, is to call an election for 30 August, officials from his party said.

His office said he had agreed the date with his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner, if bills already before parliament were passed first.

The Kyodo news agency reported that Mr Aso had told party lawmakers parliament would be dissolved on 21 July.

The move comes after Mr Aso’s ruling coalition suffered a crucial defeat in local elections in the capital, Tokyo.

The opposition Democratic Party (DPJ) won 54 seats to 38 for LDP, ending four decades of dominance in the assembly.

Finally, Japanese people stood up for change, the LDP’s been in power for so long that just cleansing the eternal corruption will be a welcome change, and this result should be an indicator for a DPJ takeover of the Diet (though, DPJ is a mess of its own and they may not gain majority and force the government to form an unwieldy coalition.)