The outcome of Sunday's Okinawa prefectural assembly election dealt another blow to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's ruling bloc, following its April defeat in a Lower House by-election in Yamaguchi Prefecture's No. 2 constituency.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, opposition forces passed a censure motion in the Upper House against Mr. Fukuda over his handling of the newly introduced health insurance plan for people aged 75 or over and road-related taxes — the first such motion under the present Constitution.
In the Yamaguchi election, the first election for a Diet seat since the inauguration of the Fukuda administration in September 2007, a Democratic Party of Japan candidate had trounced a Liberal Democratic Party candidate by a margin of about 22,000 votes. In the Okinawa election, the ruling camp led by the LDP and Komeito, which backs Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, lost its majority (27 seats) in the 48-seat prefectural assembly. Now the opposition bloc has 26 seats against the ruling bloc's 22.