Agence France Presse  --  Arab News

TOKYO, 23 June 2004 — A new poll published yesterday showed a large dip in support for Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as a majority disapproved of his Cabinet’s decision to keep troops in Iraq.

The poll taken by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper on June 19-20 showed support for Koizumi’s cabinet fell 14 points to 40 percent from a May poll, while disapproval shot up 12 points to 42 percent.

The survey of 1,810 people showed Koizumi’s handling of controversial pension reform legislation and his move to keep Japanese troops in Iraq beyond the end-of-June handover of sovereignty was hurting him, the Asahi said.

Fifty-eight percent of those polled were against Japan’s Self-Defense Forces participating in a UN-led multinational security force, versus 31 percent in favor, the poll said.

The survey comes just weeks before a July 11 election for half of the 242 seats of the upper house of parliament, the less powerful of Japan’s two chambers. Although Koizumi, a member of the lower house, is not running, and no change of government rests on the outcome, the election is widely seen as a delivering a verdict on his Iraq decision and unpopular pension reform legislation.