Political showdown looming in Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori during a reception of the Conservative Party, one of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partners, at a Tokyo hotel on Friday

November 18, 2000
Web posted at: 7:52 AM HKT (2352 GMT)

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TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan was set on Friday for a political showdown that could oust Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori after a rival in the unpopular premier's ruling party said he would back a no-confidence motion early next week.

Taking a step toward a decisive break with Mori's ruling party, reformist rival Koichi Kato said he would support the motion and expected his supporters in his faction of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to follow suit.

"I myself will vote in favor," Kato told reporters. "Those of like mind will follow me."

Kato appeared confident that he had the backing to win.

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"I will unify our members and give this our best," Kato, a former LDP executive and head of the party's second-biggest faction, said on later on television.

"If we vote for the motion, that will be decisive."

Kato has vowed to take control and wean Japan from the massive pork-barrel spending that has left it with the biggest public debt among advanced nations, but whether he can grab the top job remains unclear.

The outcome of the battle will have a direct impact on economic policies as Japan limps into recovery after a decade of stagnation, though few expect Kato would drastically tighten fiscal policy immediately.

The uncertainty weighed on the yen, pulling it down slightly against the dollar and the euro, although many analysts welcomed the prospect of a more reformist prime minister to replace Mori.

Barons in the rival feudalistic factions that make up the LDP scurried to line up lawmakers on their side for the vote.

"We have crossed the Rubicon and we must succeed," said close Kato ally Taku Yamasaki, adding that he intended to lead his 19-member faction in voting for the no-confidence measure.

The main opposition Democratic Party said it would file the motion in the 480-member powerful Lower House as early as Monday.

Mori, just back from a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Brunei, said he regretted the political wrangling and vowed to do his best for Japan.

"I am a human being and at heart, I feel ashamed," he told allies in his three-way coalition. "We ruling coalition parties pledge to selflessly fulfill our duties for the sake of the people."

Former Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party, Koichi Kato, 61, leaves his office Wednesday

Among veteran powerbrokers, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, the grand old man of Kato's LDP faction, appeared to back Mori.

"As a cabinet member I am not able to vote for a no-confidence motion," Miyazawa told a regular news conference.

"It's obvious that it's not a good thing. This is a plain issue of human ethics," said Miyazawa, who himself was ousted after a similar battle fractured the LDP in 1993.

The opposition alone lacks the numbers to pass the no-confidence motion without the help of Kato and his supporters.

If all of Kato's 45 faction members and the 19 who back his main ally vote with the opposition, the motion will pass.

"It is too close to call," said UBS Warburg political analyst Shigenori Okazaki.

If the no-confidence motion passes, Mori must either resign within 10 days, in which case the LDP must hold an election to replace him as party chief, or call a general election.

The LDP is eager to avoid an election after faring badly in a Lower House poll just last June.

If Mori resigns, a new LDP president would face a battle to be confirmed as new prime minister in parliament's Lower House.

Mori, an LDP veteran known as a policy lightweight who was tapped for the job last April, has seen his popularity sink after a string of verbal blunders and the resignation of two cabinet ministers over scandals.

Kato has insisted he will not leave the LDP, but speculation swirled that he was set to tie up with the Democrats, whose economic policies in many ways mirror his.

LDP Secretary-General Hiromu Nonaka told reporters he was confident his party and its two coalition partners could defeat the motion. In a veiled threat to expel those who voted for it, he said those who broke party rules faced harsh punishment.

Kato has close ties with some Democratic Party leaders, but some of his followers may be loath to make a final break with the LDP and its massive fund-raising machine.

In a message on his Internet homepage, which he is employing in a campaign to appeal to the public, Kato said: "It is a time when we must surmount faction and party logic."

Kato's calls to move away from reliance on a series of pump-priming budgets and slim down the role of government echo the stance of the Democrats, some of whose members have said they would support him for prime minister if he abandoned the LDP.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (English)
Japanese Prime Minister's Office (English)

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