Agence France-Presse6/25/2009 2:36 PM GMT
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has sought to regain the political initiative by announcing improved social welfare support.
Japan's premier on Thursday sought to regain the political initiative amid a spate of scandals, party rifts and poor opinion polls, as he announced improved social welfare support.
Prime Minister Taro Aso, who must call a general election by September, pledged that his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) would deliver wider support for families, low-income workers, the unemployed and other groups.
Aso is banking on an improvement in social welfare being welcomed by Japanese voters, who are struggling through the country's worst recession since World War II.
Society had been "fraying," with child poverty and youth unemployment on the rise, Aso said, telling a press conference that "the government needs to accept the fact that it has not been able to cope with these issues."
The programme's catchphrase goal of a "peace of mind society," stands in marked contrast to the disarray and dissent in the LDP ranks.
The premier's approval ratings have dropped below 20 percent in most polls, giving the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) a good chance of ending more than half a century of almost unbroken LDP rule.
Grilled by reporters on whether he could take his party to victory, a testy Aso said: "I must win the race."
The premier, who has lost three cabinet ministers since he took office last September, this week saw his finance minister accused of taking illegal donations in the latest scandal to hit Japanese politics.
Kaoru Yosano -- a key Aso ally and the man charged with steering the economy through Japan's worst post-war recession -- denied wrongdoing after a report his fund-raising group received illegal donations from a futures trading firm.
Frustration has been rife in LDP ranks, with some members reportedly urging Aso to reshuffle cabinet and party positions before the election to give the party a fighting chance at the ballot box.
LDP member Taku Yamamoto has voiced open dissent against Aso's leadership and said he has collected about half of the 216 names needed to file a petition for a party leadership vote.
But Aso said Thursday he would not be bounced into a reshuffle.
"I think the image of the LDP would deteriorate if the party brought forward a presidential election at this time," he said.
Aso has kept Japan guessing on when he will dissolve parliament but most pundits expect elections to be held in August or early September. A bellwether will be Tokyo metropolitan assembly elections on July 12.
Asked when he would call elections, Aso only said: "some day not too far away."
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