Japan PM's Support Down After Suicide

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's public approval rating has fallen sharply after the suicide of a scandal-plagued cabinet minister.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's public approval rating has fallen sharply after the suicide of a scandal-plagued cabinet minister and amid a furore over mismanaged pensions, a Kyodo news agency survey showed on Saturday, with less than two months before a key July election.

The approval rating for Abe's cabinet has sunk to 35.8 percent, down 11.8 percent from mid-May and the lowest since Abe, 52, took office in September, the survey showed.

Almost 29 percent of those responding to the survey said they would vote for the main opposition Democratic Party if the upper house election were held now, compared with 26.5 who said they would vote for Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The survey of 1,040 voters nationwide was conducted on Friday and Saturday and was the first since Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka killed himself on Monday, just hours before he was to face questioning in parliament.

Nearly 70 percent of voters said Abe had not fulfilled his responsibility for appointing Matsuoka because he had allowed the farm minister, who had been linked to several political funding scandals, to avoid providing a clear account of his actions. Matsuoka had repeatedly denied breaking any laws.

Abe's support had already slid sharply before the suicide due to voter anger over the pension mess, in which the government failed to keep track of millions of premium payments.

The ruling coalition pushed laws through the lower house on Friday aimed at resolving what media have called the "vanished pensions" problem despite fierce resistance by the opposition.

The Democratic Party charges that the legislation is flawed and has vowed to make the pension system a focal point of the July upper house election, Abe's first big test at the polls since taking office.

On Saturday, Democratic Party Secretary-General Yukio Hatoyama vowed at a party gathering to prevent the ruling camp from keeping its majority in the chamber.

A loss in the upper house election would not automatically force Abe to resign, but would likely spark calls from within the ruling camp for him to do so.