Dozens of MPs quit Japan party over tax rise

More than 50 members of ruling Democratic Party resign in protest over government's controversial sales tax increase.

Democrat heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa is set to leave, with analysts saying his power is waning [AFP]

Less than a week after Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's prime minister, won approval for a controversial sales tax increase, 52 politicians have decided to quit his governing party in protest. Forty lower house members and 12 upper house members will resign, including political heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa, though the government will keep a slim majority in the powerful lower house, an aide told the Reuters news agency on Monday. The defection would leave the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) with just 249 members in the 480-member lower house of parliament. The departure of Ozawa and his followers means Noda could be in a better position to consolidate his grip on his fractious party, though he will need opposition help to pass laws, since rival parties control the upper house, which can block bills. The plan to double the sales tax to 10 per cent in three years to curb ballooning public debt was passed by parliament's lower house last week with the help of the opposition. But 57 politicians from the ruling Democratic Party voted against it, with 15 others abstaining or absent. Ozawa, a 70-year-old former party leader, has... Continue reading...