The Democratic Party of Japan's former leader Ichiro Ozawa submitted resignations on Mondayalong with 49 other lawmakers of the ruling party in a move to oppose a sales tax hike bill.The ruling party and the major opposition parties voted for a bill at the lower house in late June to double the nation's sales tax rate by October 2015. But Ozawa and those democrats close to him rebelled in the vote. The rebels made up of the greater part of the defectors on Monday.Though Ozawa's move will deal a blow to the DPJ, it is still able to hold a majority at the powerfull ower house after the group quit. Observers forecast that Ozawa would lead the group to submitno-confidence motion against Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet.
Kenji Yamaoka, DPJ's deputy leader and one of the defectors, told reporters that Ozawa would meet press to announce his next move.Ozawa had been reportedly encouraging party members close to him to join him in forming a new party. Monday's version of The Daily Yomiuri, a popular paper, reported that the powerful politicianaimed to seize power after the next lower house election by building a loose coalition with other small and regional political parties.Noda, who openly said that he has staked his political career on raising Japan's sales tax in a bid totackle the nation's ballooning debt, would meet other DPJ executives to handle the bolt.
参考译文：日本民主党前干事长小泽一郎和其他49名民主党国会议员2日向民主党干事长舆石东递交退党申请。小泽之所以退党，是因为反对野田佳彦政府推行以提高消费税为核心的社会保障和税制一体化改革大纲。依据大纲，消费税税率将在2014年4月和2015年10月分别从现行5%提高到8%和10%，岁入全部用于支付养老金、医疗费等社会保障费用。但是，小泽和那些民主党人在表决中收到反抗。这些反对的人都是叛军中的组成部分。尽管这样，小泽仍受到大部分人的支持。一些分析师推断，小泽退党有利于野田巩固党内主导地位。他的当务之急是在参议院拉拢反对党，让与社会保障和税制一体化改革相关的法案在两院皆获通过。小泽很可能很快召开记者招待会宣布他下部的计划。有报道说，小泽最早会在一周内开始筹建全新政党。
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