Japan PM calls for cooperation to avoid gridlock

Japan's prime minister calls for parliamentary cooperation from opposition to avoid gridlock

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, fresh off a major defeat in parliamentary elections, called on the opposition parties Friday to cooperate in passing measures to shore up the nation's economy and avoid political gridlock.

Kan made the comments as Japan's parliament began a special session Friday, its first since the ruling party suffered a big setback in elections earlier this month.

The Democratic Party of Japan and its small coalition partner lost 12 seats in the upper house election, leaving it with 110 seats in the 242-member chamber. In the lower house, the coalition is short of the two-thirds majority needed to override upper house opposition to a bill.

Control of the upper house -- often seen as a barometer of confidence in the prime minister or ruling party -- has proved an elusive goal for governments over the past 20 years. Divided control over the two chambers has happened three other times since 1989, and each time the ruling coalition struggled to get anything done.

"I do not see this situation is necessarily a minus," Kan told a news conference. "We must work together for the sake of the nation."

Ousting the conservative party that had run Japan for most of the post-World War II era, the Democrats came to power last year with an ambitious agenda of slashing wasteful government spending, fighting global warming, reining in the power of bureaucrats and putting cash in the hands of consumers.

Kan's position as prime minister is not in danger because of his party's hold on the lower house. But he will face re-election as the party president next month. He said he does not intend to call elections for the lower house.

"The results of the upper house election were very severe for my party," he said, adding his suggestion just before the polls that Japan should consider raising its sales tax was partly to blame for its poor showing.

He said he would continue to push forward with fiscal reforms, however.