TOKYO: Next week’s Group of Eight summit is billed as a gathering of the world’s most powerful leaders but most are in weak positions at home with rock-bottom approval ratings or shaky holds on power.

While the summit starting on Monday in Japan will take up major issues including the dire state of the global economy, observers find it hard to remember a recent time when G8 leaders themselves were in such trouble.

“The majority of G8 summit leaders are suffering low political influence and their political bases are quite fragile,” said Koichi Haji, chief economist at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo.

“Under such circumstances, it is hard for any leader to announce drastic measures, which often come with some pain at home. I’m afraid most leaders will have difficulty exercising leadership,” he said.

It will be the last G8 summit for US President George W. Bush, who has six months left in office as world attention focuses on the race for his successor.

Bush is joined by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the summit host, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in suffering approval ratings in the 20 percent range.

Fukuda was undermined just weeks before the summit with an unprecedented censure motion in parliament, where the opposition runs one chamber.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s popularity has dropped sharply since he was elected last year. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a conservative who rules in a restive coalition with the centre-left, is busy looking for other partners to govern after 2009 elections.

And Canada has seen constant speculation of an early election with Prime Minister Stephen Harper leading a minority government.

The G8 leader with the strongest domestic poll showing is Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who took over in May as Vladimir Putin’s handpicked successor.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has also enjoyed a honeymoon since returning to power in May, with polls showing support above 50 per cent.

While each of the weakened leaders has faced specific problems, analysts said the most common reason was trouble in the global economy including spiralling oil and food costs.

“The world economy isn’t doing very well, so that’s not good for any of them,” said Robert Dujarric of Temple University’s Tokyo campus.

The Bush administration has cited the faltering economy for its refusal to sign on to binding cuts in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming set to be a major issue at the summit in the mountain resort of Toyako.

But analysts say the leaders could also see the G8 as a political opportunity.

Japanese media reports say that the summit will set up a task force on addressing rising food prices, which has increasingly burdened wealthy countries as well as the developing world.

Fukuda in particular is looking for a poll boost from the G8 summit as he seeks to counter perceptions among many voters that the low-key 71-year-old centrist lacks leadership.

John Kirton, head of the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto, said one of the most successful G8 summits was the 1979 meeting in Tokyo which helped weather an oil crisis despite the weakness of then US president Jimmy Carter.

“The summit can cause poll popularity, rather than having poll unpopularity caused by the failure of the summit,” Kirton said.—AFP