BEHIND THE NEWS Mr. Hatoyama, the fourth Japanese prime minister in four years to resign, took power vowing to remake the country's politics, revive its economy and loosen the grip of bureaucrats.
In British Guiana, the leftist People's Progressive Party (PPP) candidate Cheddi Jagan won the position of chief minister in a colonially administered election in 1953, but was quickly forced to resign from power after Britain's suspension of the still-dependent nation's constitution.
"Our dispositions too frequently change with the colour of the sky," he wrote, and he condemned it: "Surely nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependence on the weather and the wind".
The governing coalition, which took over when the Maoists resigned from power last year, wants to see the Maoists meet a series of demands before the prime minister actually resigns.
Gerb, which resigned from power in February amid street protests against corruption and poverty, won a narrow lead in the popular vote of 30.5%, followed by its Socialist rival, the BSP, on 26.6% of the vote.
Johnson argued that in emigrating to America, colonists had "voluntarily resigned the power of voting", but they still had "virtual representation" in Parliament.
Previously, an incumbent Prime Minister losing a vote of confidence would either resign immediately, handing power to a successor; or stay in as a sort of caretaker government while a second election was held.
Angry shareholders urged Reliant Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Steve Letbetter to resign, saying the power generation and energy trading company had deteriorated rapidly under his leadership.
However, in a popular uprising in 2009 president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to Andry Rajoelina in a move widely viewed by the international community as a coup d'état.
