Former farm minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi resigned from the Diet on April 2 after coming under fire for manipulating a parliamentary vote. Wakabayashi, a Liberal Democratic Party veteran, has been accused by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan of pressing the voting button March 31 of fellow LDP lawmaker Mikio Aoki, who was absent from an Upper House plenary vote to approve NHK's budget.

"I pushed the (voting) button, expecting that former (LDP) Upper House leader Mikio Aoki would be returning in a moment," Wakabayashi told reporters April 2. "I wasn't thinking straight. It was an unforgivable act and I'd like to apologize."