Japan opposition-held upper house to censure PM

(For more stories on Japanese politics, click [ID:nPOLJP]

TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Japan's opposition-controlled upper house is expected to adopt a non-binding but embarrassing censure motion against Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday, a day after the unpopular leader said he would call an Aug. 30 election.

The opposition Democratic Party and its allies have also submitted a no-confidence motion in the lower house against Aso's cabinet, whose support rates are hovering around 20 percent ahead of an election his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) looks set to lose.

The Democrats hope that by forcing LDP lawmakers to reject the motion in the lower house, they can make it tough for Aso's critics in his party to persist in efforts to dump him ahead of the election.

The LDP suffered a crushing loss on Sunday in a Tokyo assembly election seen as a barometer for the national poll, and chaos has deepened in the party as fear of losing power spreads.

A Democratic Party victory in the national election would end half a century of nearly unbroken rule by the business-friendly LDP and raise the chance of resolving political deadlocks as Japan tries to recover from its worst recession since World War Two. The Democrats can delay bills with their control of the upper house. [ID:nT220094]

The Democrats have pledged to pay more heed to the rights of consumers and workers than those of corporations and to pry policy-making decisions out of the hands of bureaucrats as a way to reduce wasteful spending. [ID:nT88438] (Reporting by Linda Sieg, Editing by Dean Yates)