A no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet was voted down Tuesday by the ruling coalition and others, in a last-minute political showdown the day before an ordinary Diet session was scheduled to end.
Submitted by opposition forces — the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party — the motion slammed the administration's COVID-19 response, insistence on hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games and unwillingness to hold itself accountable over its decisions.
The move came after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, Komeito, turned down calls from the opposition to extend the Diet session by three months, to discuss further COVID-19 countermeasures and a possible supplementary budget.