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Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Koichi Kato, center, is being pleaded not to vote for an opposition-submitted no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's cabinet during a joint meeting of his LDP faction and another party faction led by his ally, Taku Yamasaki, at Hotel Okura Tokyo around 9:45 p.m., Nov. 20, 2000. After seeing their attempt to oust Mori undermined due to attacks from other LDP factions, Kato, at one point during the meeting, said he and Yamasaki alone would vote for the motion without requesting their faction members to follow suit. But implored by many participants at the meeting, Kato decided at the last minute that his faction would skip the voting for the motion. As Yamasaki's faction was also absent, Mori survived the motion. (Jiji Press) (KEYSTONE/Jiji Press/Tsutomu Hasegawa)