Japan PM to force Afghan bill, risk election - paper

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda plans to force a law through parliament to resume a naval mission supporting the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, risking a clash with the opposition that could trigger an early election, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Fukuda has repeatedly stressed the need for Japan to resume its refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean, but a bill to do so has been bogged down in parliament's upper house, which is controlled by the opposition.

The Yomiuri newspaper said Fukuda has decided to extend the parliament session to mid-January so the ruling bloc can override the expected rejection of the bill by the upper house by using its majority in the more powerful lower chamber.

A two-thirds majority in the lower house can override upper chamber decisions, though the step is rare and time-consuming and could fail to secure popular support.

"The prime minister's decision is firm," the Yomiuri quoted an unidentified senior official of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as saying.

A poll in the Asahi newspaper on Tuesday showed 46 percent of voters said it was "reasonable" for the ruling bloc to use its two-thirds majority in the lower chamber to enact the bill, while 37 percent said it would be "unreasonable".

No lower house election need be held until late 2009, but analysts and lawmakers say the prime minister could call one early next year if the stalemate over the legislation deepens.

Japanese politics was thrown into turmoil last month when Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa discussed a coalition with Fukuda then tendered his resignation when his party executives rejected the idea. He decided to stay on after Democratic lawmakers, fearing he might defect to the ruling camp, begged him not to quit.

The Japanese mission refuelling U.S. and other ships patrolling the Indian Ocean for drug runners and suspected terrorists was halted in November after the government and opposition failed to agree to renew a measure authorising it.