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| Japan PM 'calls August election' | Japan PM 'calls August election' |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Japan's embattled Prime Minister, Taro Aso, will call a general election for 30 August, says public broadcaster NHK. | Japan's embattled Prime Minister, Taro Aso, will call a general election for 30 August, says public broadcaster NHK. |
| The move comes after Mr Aso's ruling coalition suffered a crucial defeat in local elections in the capital, Tokyo. | The move comes after Mr Aso's ruling coalition suffered a crucial defeat in local elections in the capital, Tokyo. |
| The opposition Democratic Party (DJP) won 54 seats to 38 for Mr Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, ending four decades of dominance in the assembly. | The opposition Democratic Party (DJP) won 54 seats to 38 for Mr Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, ending four decades of dominance in the assembly. |
| Mr Aso, who has approval ratings of around 20%, had been widely expected to dissolve parliament following the loss. | Mr Aso, who has approval ratings of around 20%, had been widely expected to dissolve parliament following the loss. |
| The defeat could also increase pressure on Mr Aso to quit as LDP leader before the national poll. | |
| Earlier, a senior LDP official, Nobuteru Ishihara, said the party was afraid the results would have a significant impact on the general election. | |
| Mr Aso is the fourth prime minister since the last election to the more powerful lower house in 2005. | |
| His LDP party has governed Japan for the past half-century, except for a break of less than a year in the 1990s. | |
| But the DPJ has promised to break the grip of the bureaucracy on policy making and increase social welfare measures. | |
| Its support, however, has been eroded by fundraising scandals. |