With passage of the bond-issuance bill coming into sight, speculation was spreading Friday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may dissolve the Lower House for an election before year's end.
For months, Noda has reiterated that various key issues have to be dealt with before he calls a general election, including the bond bill required to execute 40 percent of the fiscal 2012 budget.
Resistance from the opposition has blocked the bill's passage in the divided Diet and even forced the government into spending cuts, but the Liberal Democratic Party and its main opposition ally, New Komeito, finally agreed Thursday to cooperate with Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan and pass the bill in the Lower House next week.