The shadow play of Japanese politics began a new act yesterday after a face-saving compromise that lets the hugely unpopular prime minister stay in office a few more weeks while paving the way for him to resign.
In a move to limit his lame-duck status, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told five top powerbrokers from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) late on Saturday he would bring forward an election for the party presidency from September.
Ruling coalition leaders defended the decision -- which left unclear when and how Mori would be replaced -- as vital to avoid a political vacuum at a time of pressing policy matters.
The opposition vowed to press its attack against the latest backroom deal and said it may submit a non-binding resolution seeking Mori's resignation in parliament in a bid to end the ambiguous status of Japan's leader.
"It is wrong to report that the prime minister announced his intention to resign," LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei, a key Mori supporter, told public broadcaster NHK.
"We have a diplomatic schedule, the budget and related bills and an emergency economic package and must make every effort on these," Kamei said. "This is not just lip-service, it's true."
Ruling party lawmakers, though, are keen to ditch Mori -- his popularity in tatters after a string of gaffes and scandals -- before an Upper House election in July.
The prime minister had been under intense pressure to make clear his plans to step down ahead of an LDP convention that will be held tomorrow.
The compromise failed to end the agony of a public anxious to see Mori go and could prolong the very political vacuum ruling party leaders insist they want to avoid.
"The transition period between the Mori administration and its successor could possibly create a political vacuum and further aggravate the current dysfunctional political situation -- something that must be avoided at all costs," the conservative national daily Yomirui Shimbun said in an editorial.
The LDP presidency typically ensures the premiership since the party is the biggest in the three-way ruling camp, which has a majority in parliament's powerful Lower House.
Takeshi Noda, secretary-general of the ruling camp's smallest party, the New Conservatives, hinted strongly that Mori would be gone by the end of April.
"I think it's likely we will have a new framework by the spring holidays," Noda said, referring to Japan's "Golden Week" holidays in the first week of May.
The burly former rugby playing prime minister is thought keen to stay on at least until April 5 to complete a year in office.
The compromise gives Mori time to travel to Washington on March 19 to meet US President George W. Bush and hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 25 in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
It also ensures, however, that Mori will face further bashing from the opposition in parliament.
"He has not made clear his responsibility as prime minister and tomorrow in parliament we will seek to confirm, from his own lips, what his true intentions are," said Naoto Kan, number two executive in the main opposition Democratic Party.
"If the prime minister has decided to resign, the whole cabinet should resign immediately," Kan added.
The political paralysis could hardly come at a worse time for the economy, now showing signs of slipping into recession with no easy cures in sight given interest rates already near zero and a huge public debt that makes further fiscal stimulus difficult.
A power struggle is already raging over who will replace Mori as party president and Japan's 11th prime minister in 13 years.
The LDP's coalition partners, the number two New Komeito Party and the New Conservatives, favour wily LDP elder Hiromu Nonaka, one of a "Gang of Four" party powerbrokers who tapped Mori for the top job last April.
"We want to stress a relationship of trust (among coalition partners) and you could say that Nonaka has a track record in that regard," the New Conservatives' Noda said.
Nonaka, 75, has said he will not take the job.
LDP lawmakers, worried Nonaka's wheeler-dealer image and age would further damage the party's reputation with voters, favour Mori's chief lieutenant, the reform-minded Junichiro Koizumi.
A loss in the July election would not immediately oust the coalition but would spell deadlock and might prompt an early election for the Lower House, not mandated until 2004.
Chikage Ogi, head of the New Conservative Party and a former actress, has been mentioned as a dark horse candidate should the LDP fail to agree on a successor from its own ranks.
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