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Tokyo governor urged to quit for misuse political fund, facing no-confidence motion

Xinhua, June 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Scandal-hit Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe has been urged to step down in a deliberation at the Tokyo metropolitan assembly on Monday and is facing a no-confidence motion as early as Wednesday due to his misuse of political fund.

The urge came from the ruling coalition backed Masuzoe in 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election. "The governor is not qualified to talk about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and should resign," Tamiko Matsuba from the Komeito Party was cited as reporting. The Komeito controls the Tokyo assembly together with the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Hakubun Shimomura, a special adviser to Abe, indicated during a TV program Sunday that the LDP could support a no-confidence motion depending on whether Masuzoe answers sincerely during Monday's deliberations.

As the upper house election is coming, the ruling camp that groups the LDP and Komeito is concerning that the governor's scandal may affect their support during the poll.

Two opposition forces in the Tokyo assembly, the Democratic Party and the Japan Communist Party, also called the resignation of Masuzoe and they are expected to file a no-confidence motion against the governor as early as Wednesday.

The governor was found misuse of 4.4 million yen (around 41,000 U.S. dollars) from his political fund to pay hotel bills, wining and dining expenses that likely involved his family and costs to purchase about 100 artworks, according to Japan's Kyodo News.

Local media first reported in April that Masuzoe was found to have frequently used official cars to travel between the capital and his vacation home in a hot spring resort area outside Tokyo, and spent more than 200 million yen (about 1.89 million dollars) on nine overseas trips since becoming governor in February 2014.

Naoki Inose, former Tokyo governor replaced by Masuzoe, stepped down in late 2013 due to money scandal. Endit