Watanabe's move for premiership rocks coalition

TOKYO (AFP): Discord in Japan's ruling coalition further deepened yesterday as former foreign minister Michio Watanabe prepared to join the power struggle for the premiership -- a move which could lead to a major political realignment.

Watanabe said he planned to quit the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form a new party in a bid to seize the top job in the government, and was looking for ways to make alliances with coalition conservatives, including the Japan Renewal Party.

"I'm trying to find the way ... I can realize our ideas and principles," Watanabe told reporters.

The 70-year-old former foreign minister, now sounding out his aides to follow the move, is expected to make a final decision after a planned meeting with LDP chief Yohei Kono late yesterday.

The move immediately triggered strong opposition from the liberal wing in the coalition, which had come close to reaching an accord in supporting Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata's bid to replace Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, who still occupies the post as caretaker following his resignation last Friday over money scandals.

Analysts said the action by Watanabe could lead to a further delay in choosing a successor for Hosokawa.

Koken Nosaka, diet committee chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the largest group in the coalition, said that it was "very difficult" for his party to let Watanabe in the coalition framework.

Nosaka said the SDP would call on other coalition members to maintain the present framework, which has lasted for eight months since it took power from the scandal-tainted LDP for the first time in almost four decades.

Blow

Meanwhile, Ichiro Ozawa, a member of the Renewal Party and the most influential figure in the conservative camp in the coalition, hinted that the coalition might accept Watanabe, saying: "Things are already going on. Nobody can stop it."

The LDP yesterday faced another blow as five members of parliament announced they had quit the party to form a new party. The five did not mention whether Watanabe would join the move.

Coalition leaders meanwhile have failed to conclude a week- long debate over a successor.

Ozawa and Masayoshi Takemura, chief cabinet secretary and head of the Sakigake Party, are deadlocked on the issue, bringing real fears of a split in the coalition.

Analysts said Watanabe's action could herald a reorganization of the coalition by uniting the conservatives behind his candidacy and allowing Ozawa to ditch Takemura and the coalition's liberal wing.

Wanatabe had originally indicated he would run for prime minister as an LDP candidate, but Kono, who also covets the job, attempted to mollify Watanabe to give up his bid.

At present the frontrunner to replace Hosokawa is Foreign Minister Tsutomu Hata, another Renewal Party member.

Hata, who is in Morocco to attend the signing of the final act of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), told Japanese reporters there that he cautiously welcomed Watanabe's decision to split with the LDP.

Hata said it would be possible for the coalition to cooperate with Watanabe's new party so long as it showed "commitment to reforms we are aiming at."