Prime Minister Taro Aso should call a snap election in May after an extra budget for fiscal 2009 is passed to break the current political stalemate caused by a divided Diet, former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa advised Wednesday.
"The world is rapidly changing and Japan cannot remain in this deadlock forever," Nakagawa said in a speech at the Japan National Press Club in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. "I call on Prime Minister Aso to make the decision to dissolve the Lower House and call an election this spring, in May for example, to seek the judgment of the people and break free from this political stalemate."
Amid the ongoing global financial crisis, the government and the LDP-New Komeito ruling bloc are set to draft a rare extra budget for fiscal 2009 this spring. It is unusual for the Diet to pass an extra budget during the first half of the fiscal year.