Koichi Kato, a leading dissident in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, failed miserably in his latest attempt to unseat Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
Kato launched an open revolt against Mori because he feared that the LDP would suffer a devastating loss in the 2001 Upper House election if the prime minister, troubled by dismally low Cabinet approval ratings of less than 20 percent, stayed in his job until then. If that happened, Kato thought, the government would be forced to dissolve the Lower House for a snap election, in which the coalition of the LDP and New Komeito would lose its majority in the chamber, and the opposition forces would take power. Kato's idea was that if he assumed power now, he would take responsibility for a possible LDP loss in the Upper House election, making it possible for LDP rule to continue.
When he was a leading Diet member of the LDP, Ichiro Ozawa once backed an opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the LDP Cabinet, bolted the party and formed a new opposition party, Shinseito. He now heads the conservative opposition Liberal Party.