No progress in Japan PM search, coalition shaky

No progress in Japan PM search, coalition shaky

TOKYO (Reuter): Japan's ruling coalition, teetering on the brink of collapse, suspended talks yesterday aimed at papering over a gaping rift and agreeing on a successor to departing Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa.

Two days of fruitless horse-trading have followed Hosokawa's sudden decision on Friday to resign because of a loan scandal after eight, often turbulent, months in office.

By last night, coalition negotiators had managed to agree on just one thing -- to suspend the talks until today.

"Discussions will continue but we want all the leaders (including potential successors) to take part," said government spokesman Masayoshi Takemura, head of the Sakigake New Party.

The Socialist Party, the largest in the unlikely alliance stretching from conservatives to the hard-left, sided with Takemura and rejected the idea of resuming talks yesterday.

"We don't think we're going to get anywhere without the real players taking part, this includes all the candidates who could replace Hosokawa," said a Socialist official in parliament. "We've slated top-level talks for noon on Monday."

Hosokawa's resignation -- he remains as caretaker until a successor is chosen -- has sparked a power struggle within the fractious alliance now polarized into two opposing camps.

Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata, who is also deputy premier, has emerged as a strong candidate backed by his own influential Shinseito (Japan Renewal Party), the Komeito (Clean Government Party) and Hosokawa's Japan New Party.

Opposed to him were several other groups led by the Socialists and Takemura's Sakigake. They suspect Hata's patron, Shinseito boss Ichiro Ozawa, of conniving to create a big conservative party and take control of government.

Ozawa, who masterminded the coalition's creation last August, has been trailed by controversy and allegations of scandal despite repeated denials. Talk is rife that he aims to form a new alliance with one or more of his former associates in the once- dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and part ways with the unpredictable Socialists and his rival Takemura.

LDP revolt

Ozawa and Hata led an LDP revolt last year after their mentor and party boss was implicated in a big payoff scandal that eventually cost the conservatives their 38-year grip on power. The two formed the Shinseito that now dominates the coalition, to the ire of Takemura and other party leaders.

Takemura said his party might accept Hata as prime minister but only on condition Ozawa agrees not to meddle in government. He added that, regardless of who takes over for the time being, Japan was entering a period of broad political reconfiguration.

"We're moving away from the current set-up, divided into LDP and anti-LDP camps," he said on television yesterday.

"I see three or four groups emerging out of different alliances between coalition parties and LDP factions."

LDP chief Yohei Kono entered the fray yesterday, saying his party was ready to talk with Takemura and others about creating an LDP-led government. Meanwhile, his party urged young lawmakers contemplating a change to remain loyal.

Socialist chief Tomoichi Murayama, a likely rival to Hata, raised the possibility of a split, and even early elections, should alliance partners fail to agree on a successor.

"It's going to be hard to agree to Hata... because there's a lot of resistance to the idea of Shinseito taking control," he said on television. "If we are unable to form a strong government, then we let the people decide (in elections)."

Murayama rejected outright another Shinseito draft plan -- to bring in popular LDP politician Michio Watanabe as leader.

"That will create what amounts to LDP government and we're not going to join an administration like that," he said.