The Lower House Steering Committee said Thursday it will hold a plenary session of the chamber at 1 p.m. today to vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori submitted by the opposition Wednesday.
However, Diet sources said Mori will dissolve the Lower House for general elections before the vote is taken. An extraordinary Cabinet meeting will be held after the dissolution to officially set the date of the polls at June 25, with campaigning to formally start June 13.
Four opposition parties — the Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party — submitted the no-confidence motion, which said Mori is not qualified for the position after his controversial remarks that Japan was "a divine nation with the Emperor at its center."