Note the poll on your right asking when you think Aso is going to announce that he’s stepping down and having elections.
You can read a good insider story right here, “Prime Minister Aso on the Brink in Japan” at the Big in Japan blog for some background information on some of Aso’s recent gaffs.
There’s a lot going on right now in the government but this is Japan’s third prime minister since Prime Minister Koizumi stepped down. Koizumi also stepped down on his own terms (before he took office he decided on a date to step down) handing the country over to Abe with icing on top.
So let’s see when people think Aso’s going to announce that he’s stepping down… no betting please, this is strictly for fun.
What does everyone think?
- By the end of January 2009?
- By the end of March 2009?
- By the end of December 2009?
- Sometime in 2010?
- He’s going to be here a while?
Well it’s odds on that it will be in or before September 2009 as that is the deadline for an election I believe. Surely the LDP can’t win with things being as they are at the moment, and if they lose Aso will be a fitting scapegoat so they can get rid of him and get the next stooge in.
We may have to wait for someone from the entertainment world to come in out of nowhere and win like Hashimoto in Osaka or Higashikokubaru in Miyazaki. At least someone like that could use his popularity to buck the system a little more. As it stands it seems like there’s just a bunch of old guys trying to hold onto their little piece of the pie.
I think Japan would benefit from a popular vote system over the current party based parliamentary system. It would make the politicians actually have to think about what the voters think. Right now the government are the people are not connected at all and the media does nothing to check or balance the government’s power.