Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan survived a no-confidence vote in parliament today after the unpopular leader offered to resign once he had dealt with the worst of the country's nuclear crisis and tsunami disaster.
Parliament's lower house rejected the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion by 293 votes to 152. At least two members of Mr Kan's own Democratic Party backed the motion, while power broker and rival Ichiro Ozawa abstained from voting.
Speaking ahead of the vote, Mr Kan said he would step down but offered no firm date.
"I would like for the younger generation to take over various responsibilities once I fulfil certain roles that I need to, as I work on handling the disaster," a solemn Mr Kan told a gathering of Democratic Party members.
Some rebels in the party had said they wanted Mr Kan out sooner. But his predecessor, Yukio Hatoyama, told the MPs he agreed with the prime minister's plan to step down after the outlook for an extra budget to fund rebuilding from the tsunami was clear. That would probably be around August or September.
Mr Hatoyama, who leads a major group in the ruling party, had earlier said he would vote in favour of the no-confidence motion. His agreement likely turned the tide in favour of the beleaguered premier.
Mr Kan, who took office almost a year ago, is battling to control a radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima nuclear plant, while trying to figure out how to pay for rebuilding the northeast region devastated by the tsunami, and prepare tax reforms to pay for rising social security costs.
Reuters