Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's cabinet survived a no-confidence vote Friday. The Constitutional Democratic Party submitted the motion. It criticized Kishida's defense spending boost as well as what it calls his failure to tackle rising prices.

The party president Izumi Kenta said: "Things are moving in the wrong direction. We need to stop increasing the burden on people while they struggle to make ends meet."

But the ruling camp argued that the motion was just an annual attempt by the CDP to delay deliberations in the Diet.

The motion is considered largely symbolic as Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party holds a majority in the Lower House. The ruling coalition voted it down, as did some opposition parties.

Still, the proposal had attracted a lot of attention. Speculation built up for weeks that the motion could prompt Kishida to call a snap election. But he seemed to put the kibosh on that Thursday, saying he was not considering dissolving the house during the current Diet session which is set to wrap up Wednesday.