No plans to call snap election: Japan PM

TOKYO: Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Wednesday that he has no plans to call a snap election despite pressure from combative opposition parties in a divided parliament.

"I am absolutely not thinking of a snap election now," he said in parliament.

Kan, who took office last June as Japan's fifth premier since 2006, has called on opposition parties to join multi-party talks on tax and social security reforms vital to rein in bulging public debt and fund the rising costs of a fast-ageing society.