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TOKYO, JAPAN - Japan Prime Minister Taro Aso, facing dwindling public support after just two months in office, on Friday brushed aside calls from the resurgent opposition for snap elections.
The conservative premier said he "cannot create a vacuum in the nation's politics" by calling an election during the financial crisis, as he clashed with Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa in parliament.
The opposition leader also urged Aso to immediately submit a second supplementary budget to fund a fresh stimulus package to help Asia's biggest economy weather the global financial crisis.
Ozawa said Aso was being "illogical" and "committing an act of betrayal to the public" by waiting until January before submitting the bill.
But Aso said the government had done enough for now with a 1.81-trillion-yen (19-billion-dollar) emergency spending plan enacted in October.
"The government can handle the economic situation this year," he said.
Aso announced last month a second economic stimulus package worth 26.9 trillion yen, including fresh spending of five trillion yen.
But the measures have apparently failed to boost his popularity as the economy worsens. One recent survey showed his cabinet's approval rating at below 30 percent.
"This is the third debate with the third prime minister since I took this post over two years ago," said Ozawa, mocking Aso's ruling Liberal Democratic Party for changing its leader every year since 2005.
"I may soon see the fourth," Ozawa said, drawing a bitter smile from Aso.
The 68-year-old premier has come under fire for frequent evening visits to hotel bars when Japanese companies are cutting jobs because of a recession. A series of verbal blunders has also tested his popularity.
Aso was forced to apologise this week after criticising the elderly for not staying fit and being a burden on taxpayers.
In recent weeks he has also appeared to insult doctors, parents, and even members of his own ruling party.
The opposition, which controls one house of parliament, has pushed Aso to submit a supplementary budget to pay for another spending boost, promising to cooperate on the smooth passage of the legislation.
Aso said, however, he wanted to focus his immediate efforts on a bill to allow injections of public funds into troubled banks, which Ozawa criticises as a mere excuse for him to stay longer in the premier's post.
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