TOKYO -- Fresh from a trouncing at the polls, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama vowed Monday to make his way through "rough seas" and stay on as head of Japan's weak and divided government.


But calls mounted for the Murayama, 71, to quit, and commentaries said the shaky state of the government would make it harder to deal with issues like trade disputes and the flagging economy.


In Sunday's parliamentary elections, the governing coalition won just over half the upper-house seats up for grabs, barely meeting its minimum goal and falling well short of original expectations. Voter apathy was rampant. The turnout was only 44 percent, the lowest ever in a Japanese national election.


A subdued Murayama said the election results were "very regrettable" and acknowledged that quitting had crossed his mind. But he said he and his allies agreed that he should stay on. "I renewed my commitment to overcome the rough seas and do my best to live up to the public's expectations," he said.


Coalition partners cited the need for stability following three changes in government in the past two years. Murayama has no clear successor in the coalition, and his resignation now could set off a power struggle. The beleaguered coalition, an uneasy marriage of Murayama's Socialists and conservative Liberal Democrats, has faced a lingering economic slump, bitter trade confrontations and national safety concerns in the wake of a subway nerve-gas attack.


To acknowledge voter dissatisfaction, coalition leaders agreed in principle Monday to reshuffle the Cabinet, probably next month.


The main opposition party, which made significant gains, called on Murayama to quit.


"Naturally, Murayama should resign," said a leader of the opposition New Frontier party, former defense minister Kazuo Aichi. "We have received a vote of confidence."


Sunday's election did not involve Parliament's more powerful lower house, which chooses the prime minister. Lower-house elections were not expected until late this year or early next year, but leading papers urged the prime minister to dissolve the lower house and call for early elections.





"The mountain has collapsed," the mass-circulation Asahi Shimbun editorialized. "The prime minister should take responsibility and resign." Most commentaries said the government was unable to effectively lead the country.


"It is clear the current administration lacks the ability to take on important issues or even deal with the changes of global politics," said Japan's most widely circulated daily, the Yomiuri Shimbun.





Of the 126 seats contested -- half of the 252 upper-house seats are up for re-election every three years -- the coalition garnered 65.


Murayama's Socialists won 16 seats, a sharp decline from 41 in the previous poll. The dominant coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, won 46 seats, up from 33 in polling three years ago but well short of party leaders' hopes of pulling in 60 or so seats. The smaller coalition partner Sakigake won 3, up from 1 in the previous polling.


With the seats they already held, though, the coalition controls an upper-house majority, with 148 seats. The coalition also has a solid lower-house majority.