Japanese Parliament Votes Confidence in PM

The lower house of parliament approved a motion of confidence in Yasuo Fukuda.

Reflecting Japan's political stalemate, the lower house of parliament approved a motion of confidence in Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday, a day after the opposition-controlled upper chamber adopted an unprecedented but non-binding censure of the unpopular leader.

The main opposition Democratic Party and smaller allies pushed through the censure motion on Wednesday, the first against a prime minister under the 1947 constitution, in an effort to build momentum for an early election for the lower house.

But Fukuda, whose public support ratings have been sliding, said after the vote that he had no intention of calling a poll for the more powerful lower chamber within the year.

Ruling bloc lawmakers are reluctant to risk losing their two-thirds majority in the lower house, which allows them to override upper house vetoes of bills.