Nov 25 07:45 AM US/EasternOTSU, Japan, Nov. 25 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan indicated Sunday there is a possibility of a general election at an early stage.
"It is generally seen that the situation now is not advantageous for the government and ruling coalition parties (to dissolve the House of the Representatives for a general election), but you never know what will happen in this kind of the time," Ozawa said in a press conference in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture.
"There is a good chance for a sudden encounter after an unexpected turn of things," he said.
As for the controversial bill to resume Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, Ozawa said deliberations in the House of Councillors cannot be fully completed by the Dec. 15 end of the current extended extraordinary Diet session.
Ozawa blamed it on the government and the ruling coalition parties which he said created a political vacuum for two months after then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suddenly resigned in September and was succeeded by Yasuo Fukuda.
The bill passed the ruling bloc-dominated House of Representatives on Nov. 13 and was immediately sent to the upper house controlled by the DPJ-led opposition camp, which is set to reject it.
While closely watching how things will move after the deliberations begin Tuesday in the upper house, the Fukuda administration is considering extending the Diet session for the second time.
Even if the upper house votes down the bill, the more powerful lower house can override it with a two-thirds majority in a second vote to enact the legislation.
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