Japanese leader suffers unprecedented no-confidence motion in parliament

The 131-105 vote in the opposition-controlled house was the first time a chamber of parliament had approved such a measure in Japanese postwar history. The motion, however, was certain to die in the ruling party-dominated lower house.

Fukuda said he would not dissolve the lower house in response. The ruling coalition submitted a confidence motion in that chamber, where Fukuda's Liberal Democratic Party has a two-thirds majority, and a vote was expected Thursday.

The no-confidence vote was the latest in a series of steps by the opposition to use its clout in the upper house _ won in elections last summer _ to harass Fukuda's unpopular government and force him to call lower house elections.

The current impasse was over Fukuda's support for a health insurance plan that the opposition said hurt the country's growing ranks of elderly.

"The Liberal Democratic Party's coalition government has been completely neglecting the people's lives and using politics for their own benefit," Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters after the vote.

The government, however, dismissed the measure as posturing by the opposition, and has insisted that Fukuda would not step down over the motion, despite polls that show the prime minister's support rating as low as 20 percent.

"I don't think it has any real meaning beyond being a sort of political performance," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said of the motion.

The opposition has consistently attempted to block high-profile legislation in the upper house, forcing Fukuda's ruling coalition to pass bills with a two-thirds majority vote in the more powerful lower house.

While the tactic has embarrassed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, it hasn't won much support for the opposition, which Fukuda has accused of lacking the ability or program to govern effectively.

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the upper house censure motion "meaningless," though he acknowledged that it would be perilous for Fukuda to put the lower house up for election with his support ratings falling.

"It's like bullying," he said at a speech in Tokyo, referring to the opposition tactics. "There is no way Prime Minister Fukuda will resign, or call for a snap election now, when the popularity of the LDP is so low."

Last year, the split in parliament forced Japan to withdraw its ships from the Indian Ocean, where they were supporting U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. is Japan's top ally, and Tokyo later managed to pass a scaled-down version of the mission.

The opposition also blocked two of Fukuda's nominees to head the central bank in March, leaving Japan's economy without one of its key leaders at a time of global financial uncertainty.

In the current impasse, opposition leaders are objecting specifically to Fukuda's handling of a health insurance plan for the elderly and scandals in the Defense Ministry. The opposition parties plan to boycott the parliament after the no-confidence vote is taken, news reports said.

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