A NO-CONFIDENCE motion against the Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was voted down yesterday in the lower house, with the ruling bloc fending off opposition camp criticism about the government’s handling of a pension report before an upper house election.

The motion was submitted earlier in the day jointly by four Japanese opposition parties and a group, condemning the Cabinet for continuing to “deceive the public on domestic and foreign affairs, and is jeopardizing people’s lives and security.”

The leaders of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), the Democratic Party for the People, the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Reviewing Group on Social Security Policy met yesterday morning and agreed to introduce the motion to clarify their aim to remove Abe’s Cabinet from power.

CDP leader Yukio Edano said they all agreed on the move to demonstrate their opposition to the Abe administration.

The recent furor came after Japanese Minister of Finance Taro Aso refused to receive the report by a panel of experts under the Financial Services Agency he oversees, which contained an estimate that an average retired couple would face a shortfall of 20 million yen (US$186,000) under the current pension system if they live to be 95 years old. Aso has insisted that the reason he decided not to receive the report was that it contradicted the government stance.  (Xinhua)