Japanese PM Could Step Down in 10 Days

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan (C) attends a debate with opposition party leaders at the parliament in Tokyo on June 1. Kan, struggling with the quake disaster response and a flagging economy, is to face the threat of a no-confidence motion by oppositions and even rebels from his own party. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces a no-confidence motion in Parliament on Thursday afternoon, which could cost him the leadership just a year after he took office.

The major opposition parties that are discontent with Kan’s emergency response submitted on Wednesday evening the no-confidence motion, which requires a total of 240 votes for it to pass in the 480-member House of Representatives.

While the country is still struggling to contain the nuclear crisis that set course after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Kan’s ruling Democratic Party of Japan is shaken to the core as discontented members—including Cabinet appointees—have threatened to support the no-confidence motion, according to The Japan Times.

If the motion passes, Kan will have to step down and ask his Cabinet to resign or dissolve the House for an election within 10 days.

In the DPJ-led House, opposition members will need 80 votes from Kan’s party to pass the motion. So far, at least 50 DPJ members have indicated that they will side with the opposition parties, CNN reported.

Kan, who had already become unpopular before the disasters, received further criticism as the island nation battles to contain the nuclear crisis and economic woes. The nuclear crisis, triggered by the biggest earthquake in Japanese history, is the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine.

During a parliamentary committee meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Sadakazu Tanigaki, leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, criticized Kan’s handling of the nuclear crisis.

“The ground is crumbling at your feet,” Tanigaki told Kan, as quoted by The Japan Times. “You have neither the integrity nor capability to bring your party together. It is causing a political vacuum and that is why I said you should step down.”

Nevertheless, Kan said he is willing to hold on.

“I think most of the people want us to unite in the Diet (parliament) and focus on reconstruction and restoration and to resolve the nuclear plant accident. I believe I have the responsibility to fulfill this duty.”

In the past five years, Japan has had six prime ministers.