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Japan PM says no snap elections now

AFP - Monday, October 6

TOKYO (AFP) - - Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso said Monday he had no immediate plans for snap elections, vowing to concentrate on revitalising the ailing economy.

"Our priority is to let the supplementary budget pass. Therefore, I don't have dissolution (of parliament) in mind at this stage," Aso said.

Aso was speaking to a parliamentary committee that was looking at an extra 1.81 trillion yen (17 billion dollars) budget he has proposed to help the world's second largest economy cope with rising prices.

Aso, an advocate of spending to boost the economy, has said he is studying more supplementary spending to defend Japan against the effects of the global financial crisis.

"The US financial crisis has steadily spread to Europe," Aso said.

"I presume that what people are concerned about right now is fears about the prospect for the economy," he said.

The term of the lower house will expire in September next year but the opposition has stepped up demands for an early election after two prime ministers from the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party quit within the space of a year.

Aso took over on September 24 from Yasuo Fukuda who resigned amid sagging popularity after he raised medical costs for elderly people.

Japan's banks have been conservative lenders and have been comparatively unscathed by the crisis in high-risk subprime loans that has devastated Wall Street banks.

But Japan's economy is on the verge of recession in part because of lower demand for its exports in the United States.

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