As confusion lingers in the Diet over procedures for revising the Deposit Insurance Law, the opposition camp is poised to submit a no-confidence motion today against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
The motion is to be submitted by Shinshinto, the largest of the noncommunist opposition parties, and support during the Lower House plenary session vote is expected from the Democratic Party of Japan, the Taiyo Party and the Japanese Communist Party. However, it is almost certain that the motion will be voted down by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its two non-Cabinet allies -- the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake.
The fate of the bill to amend the Deposit Insurance Law remained in the air Wednesday as opposition parties adopted creative stalling tactics in an attempt to get it shelved. The planned no-confidence vote against Hashimoto is one of the tactics; the opposition parties are accusing the prime minister of failing to properly deal with the crisis gripping the nation's financial system.