OSAKA -- Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi should wait at least until after the Group of Eight summit to dissolve the Lower House for a general election, senior Liberal Democratic Party leaders appeared to have agreed over the weekend.

Hiromu Nonaka, deputy secretary general of the LDP, said in a lecture Sunday in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, that he wants Obuchi to call a general election after the July 21-23 summit, to be held in Okinawa.

He said the timing of the election should not depend on whether it would benefit the LDP or other parties in the ruling coalition, which also includes the Liberal Party and New Komeito.