grip on power is increasingly weakening

Minnesotaくんがgripについて書いていましたが（昨日はどうしたんだろう？？），この文脈では「求心力の低下」と訳せましょう。
なお，the latest addition to~も英語らしい表現です。「新たな〜」という場合にはよく用いられます（例：the latest addition to the Minnesota Family なんて！）。ついでに離党届けを「提出する」ではtenderという動詞が好まれます。その理由は各自，チェックしてみてください。その他，英語らしい表現にはグリーンでマークをしています。

これから所用があり，久しぶりの早稲田です！明日はA30研究室に出ます。（UG）

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20120717/1342521106

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Defections weaken Noda's grip on power
Kyodo, Staff report

Opposition lawmakers claimed Wednesday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's grip on power is increasingly weakening due to the recent spate of defections by lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Japan.

Lower House lawmaker Hirosato Nakatsugawa was the latest addition to the list of DPJ defectors. As of Wednesday, 55 Diet members had tendered their resignations to the DPJ, triggered by the Lower House passage of the sales tax hike bill June 26.

Nakatsugawa's exit came a day after three DPJ members from the Upper House resigned partly because of Noda's goal to double the 5 percent tax by 2015.

The three are Yasue Funayama, Kuniko Koda and Kuniko Tanioka. Their exit leaves the DPJ with only 88 lawmakers in the Upper House, which is already dominated by the opposition camp.

If three or more lawmakers follow suit, the DPJ would lose its No. 1 position in the upper chamber to the LDP.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120719a5.html#.UAde5BwzR-Y