Japan's beleaguered Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday rejected opposition calls for snap polls by saying that he will call the parliamentary election ''at an appropriate time'' as his efforts to safeguard the nation's ailing economy have begun taking shape.
Addressing a plenary session of the House of Representatives Thursday, Aso said, ''I have put all my efforts into compiling economic measures and budgets to finance steps to shield the public's lives and employment from an unprecedented global financial crisis.''
''Therefore, I would like to test the public mandate at an appropriate time after clarifying what the issues would be,'' he added.
Aso was replying to the demand by Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, to dissolve the lower house for an election as quickly as possible.
The Japanese leader had made it clear earlier this month that he would not consider calling an election until the Diet passes the budget and related bills.
The Diet will debate the fiscal proposals since Tuesday.
Taking over from Yasuo Fukuda in September, Aso had said his priority would be on boosting the nation's economy.
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