Japan's LDP in deadlock over choice for next PM

Japan's LDP in deadlock over choice for next PM

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
was locked in a power struggle on Sunday over whom to back as the
next prime minister after a top official backed a crafty veteran
but other powerbrokers kept their counsel.

The LDP's number two, Secretary-General Makoto Koga, ignited
the race to select a successor to lame-duck Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori when he told a gathering last Saturday that he
wanted his mentor, party elder Hiromu Nonaka, to take the helm.

It was the strongest statement yet from an influential
lawmaker in the three-party ruling coalition as to who would be
the best candidate, but the race stood at a standstill with
Nonaka's repetition of a flat refusal to take the throne.

Politicians in the ruling camp, led by the LDP, are keen to
ditch Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, his popularity shredded by
gaffes and scandals, ahead of a July Upper House poll in the hope
of improving their chances.

For weeks now, party powerbrokers have been locked in talks
behind closed doors to hammer out a replacement for Mori, whose
single-digit support ratings make him one of Japan's most
unpopular prime ministers ever.

Sparking the power struggle was a promise this month by Mori
to bring forward from September the election to replace him as
president of the LDP. The new president is virtually guaranteed
the premiership because the LDP dominates the ruling coalition.

One key to a final outcome may lie in what two influential
members of the biggest faction in the multi-group LDP decide.

Faction leader Ryutaro Hashimoto, a former prime minister, and
former Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki have kept silent.
Hashimoto, seen by many as a leading contender, has not stated
his intention of running or of backing a candidate.

Critics of the 63-year-old say that if he took up the reins,
the coalition could lose in July because the lone-wolf party
heavyweight has already had to resign once as prime minister
after the LDP was thrashed in a 1998 Upper House election.

Given that, Hashimoto could throw his support behind the
powerful Nonaka -- the faction's de facto leader.

If that happens "Nonaka will have little choice but to run",
the Sankei Shimbun newspaper quoted an unidentified middle-
ranking party member as saying.

Nonaka has ruled himself out -- remarks seen by many observers
as part of elaborate horsetrading for the top job. Again last
Saturday, Nonaka said he was not swayed by the remarks from LDP
Secretary General Koga.

Powerbroker Aoki too has kept his counsel, warning only of the
dangers of a split in the faction before the July polls.

But the LDP's partners in the coalition favor the 75-year-old
Nonaka. Its main coalition partner, the New Komeito party,
welcomed Koga's attempt to nudge Nonaka into the lead.

"For us, as part of the coalition, there is no doubt that we
have high hopes for Mr Nonaka," the Sankei quoted one party
member as saying.

The third likely candidate, expected to win cheers from a
public disillusioned with a decade of economic stagnation, is the
quixotic Junichiro Koizumi, 59, who leads Mori's own faction.

"A person who holds high public expectations (like him) must
make an appropriate decision," Koji Omi, secretary general of
Mori's faction told a television talkshow on Sunday.

"If (Koizumi) fails to run in the election, he will be accused
as if he had fled," he said.

But doubts persist over whether Koizumi could hold the
coalition together because his reformist views have failed to
find favor with the LDP's two allies.

Mori is seen likely to meet party leaders around April 5 to
discuss the timing of the election. April 5, which marks exactly
one year since Mori took office, has also been tipped as one date
for him to state his formal resignation.

While April 22 had been tipped as a likely date for the poll,
the Nihon Keizai Shimbun financial daily has said that may now be
difficult due to clashes with the Imperial Household's schedule.

The emperor is due to visit Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan
between April 23 and 26, making the inauguration ceremony for the
new prime minister impossible during those days.