Opposition parties called Sunday for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to resign if he breaks his pledge to implement a 2-percentage-point consumption tax hike scheduled for April 2017, Kyodo reported.

Main opposition Democratic Party acting Secretary General Tetsuro Fukuyama said during an NHK television program that Abe and his Cabinet should resign if he does not fulfill his pledge and pushes the tax hike back to October 2019. Officials from the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party backed Fukuyama's demand.

During the same NHK program, Liberal Democratic Party acting Secretary General Yasufumi Tanahashi asked for public understanding over the likely postponement.

Source : MENA