TOKYO - MOVES to oust unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will intensify if, as many expect, his ruling bloc fares badly in a key local election on Sunday that is considered a bellwether for a coming national poll.

Possible candidates to replace Mr Aso IN THE latest sign of public displeasure, 44 per cent of voters in the Yomiuri survey said Mr Aso should quit versus 39 per cent who want him to stay. Even 37 per cent of his party's own backers want a new leader. ... more

The main opposition Democratic Party is ahead of Mr Aso's long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in opinion polls ahead of the closely watched election for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, mirroring its lead for the upcoming national election.

'Depending on the degree of defeat on Sunday, there will be panic,' Hiroshige Seko, an upper house LDP lawmaker and vocal Mr Aso critic, told Reuters in an interview. 'First, we will call for an early LDP leadership election and a change in the rules to allow that.'

Mr Aso's term as party chief expires in September and his critics want a vote to replace him moved to early August.

Deep doubts, however, persist over whether even that desperate measure would rescue the ruling bloc from defeat in a general election for parliament's lower house due by October.

A Democratic victory in the lower house election would end a half-century of nearly unbroken rule by the conservative LDP and raise the chances of resolving a deadlock in a divided parliament as Japan tries to recover from recession.

A survey of 1,087 voters by the Yomiuri newspaper published on Friday showed that 41 per cent planned to vote for the

Democrats in the national election compared to 24 per cent for the LDP. That was in line with a survey by the Nikkei business daily.

Public support for the 68-year-old Aso has eroded since he took office in September following a series of flip-flops over policies as Japan struggles with its worst recession in 60 years, and is now hovering around 20 per cent. -- REUTERS