The ruling party of Prime Minister Naoto Kan suffered losses from the local elections held over their weekend after the nuclear power plant crisis further weakened his governance.

Shintaro Ishihara still won his fourth term regardless of what he said; that the disastrous earthquake and tsunami was a divine punishment for the country.

Ishihara is popular for his criticisms about China, including the elite bureaucrats at home. He urged residents in Tokyo to conserve energy after the problems of the quake-hit nuclear power plant caused power shortages and blackouts in the capital city.

Moreover, Kan was already pressured to step down even before the earthquake and tsunami occurred on March 11. The incident left his government coping up with the worst crisis that hit Japan since World War II.

Yet, Prime Minister Kan is unlikely to be forced out of Japan while the country is still regaining control over the crippled Fukushima power plant located north of Tokyo. Today, it is the biggest nuclear crisis in the world since the tragic Chernobyl occurred.

Kan’s ruling Democratic Party lost 69 seats during the votes cast on Sunday for the prefectural assemblies. The party also lost three gubernatorial elections.

Still, Democratic Party takes over the parliament’s lower house. However, it needs the opposition, as well as the funding legislation in the upper house to assist them in passing the bills.

Analysts has previously expected the Democratic Party to have a heavy loss in the elections, which was likely to be blamed on Kan.

Japan is ready to end pumping radioactive water into the ocean by Sunday, according to a report released by Reuters. This action is expected to help alleviate the concerns coming from Japan’s neighboring countries because of their fear of spreading radiation from the current nuclear crisis in Fukushima power plant.

However, there have been problems in restoring Fukushima’s cooling system that might cause more radioactive water to be pumped out into the ocean once the storage capacity of the power plant complex runs out.

Japan still struggles to restore its control over the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the immense earthquake and tsunami struck the country’s northeast region on March 11. The country is still facing a massive economic and humanitarian crisis.

An official from the nuclear safety agency said Japan’s nuclear crisis is the worst incident since Chernobyl.

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency’s deputy director-general Hidehiko Nishiyama said they cannot perceive what the outlook of the power plant would be in the future. He said they would like to regain stable cooling and position a path toward regaining control over radiation as soon as possible.

Recently, Japan was criticized by South Korea and China because of how they are handling the crisis in the nuclear power plant.

On Sunday, Japanese casted their votes in the local elections. Many thought of it a way for Japanese to vent out their anger over how Prime Minister Naoto Kan handled the nuclear crisis. Opponents strengthened as they plan to force his resignation once the crisis in Japan ends.