Japan PM set to keep job ahead of tough election

By Chisa Fujioka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso looks set to keep his job and hold an election next month after efforts to force a ruling party meeting that could have pushed him to quit were blocked by party heavyweights.

Aso sparked chaos in the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) party when he announced plans for an August 30 general election on Monday, just a day after the party was trounced by the rival Democratic Party in a Tokyo assembly election.

Polls show the LDP will likely lose the general election, ending more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the business-friendly party and improving chances of resolving a policy deadlock caused by a divided parliament. The opposition controls the upper house and can delay bills.

The LDP's fading fortunes have fuelled moves to oust Aso before the election, with a handful of LDP rebels presenting a petition for a formal meeting of parliamentarians to press their views.

But their plans were complicated after some lawmakers whose names were on the petition later said they had never signed, while others said they would retract their signatures if the gathering was used to ditch Aso.

The party has decided to hold a less formal meeting instead on Tuesday, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said. The meeting would be closed to media and lack the authority to revise party rules enabling a change in party leadership.

"The title of the meeting aside, I'm pleased that the party will take such an important process where the party leader and lawmakers exchange their opinions before the LDP heads for election," Yosano told a news conference.

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