JAPAN: POLITICS - Prime MinisterTaro Aso and ruling bloc in crisis after finance minister fuss.

Record ID: 462022

  • Title: JAPAN: POLITICS - Prime MinisterTaro Aso and ruling bloc in crisis after finance minister fuss.
  • Date: 19th February 2009
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (FEBRUARY 18, 2009) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN THE STREETS OF TOKYO (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) TAKEFUMI MARUYAMA, 70-YEAR-OLD RETIRED BUSINESSMAN, SAYING: "I'm not satisfied with the current politics. I was expecting Aso to do well, but I'm not happy because he doesn't have any solid ideas." (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) MITSUHIKO HISHINUMA, 46-YEAR-OLD BUSINESSMAN,
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF53QUZ7Y0DWXKXOBFHX64GJ1K
  • Story Text: The resignation of Japan's Finance Minister has sparked fresh speculation over whether unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso will be forced either to resign or call an early general election that his long-ruling party is in danger of losing.
    Japan's finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa resigned on Tuesday (February 17) after being forced to deny he was drunk at a G7 news conference, but the move may be too late to save unpopular Aso or the long-ruling party from voters' wrath.
    Shoichi Nakagawa told reporters the prime minister had accepted his resignation, just a day after Aso had asked his close ally to stay in his post despite uproar over his behaviour at a G7 gathering in Rome.

    "Due to personal reasons, I've submitted my resignation,"
    said Nakagawa, who slurred his words at the G7 summit news conference and appeared to fall asleep at one point.
    Nakagawa said he had not done more than sip some wine before the news conference and that cold medicine had affected his behaviour.
    Immediately after Nakagawa's resignation, Aso chose Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano, 70, to add the job of finance minister to his current role, a choice that spelled little change in policy as the government struggles to lift Japan out of a deepening recession.
    But the saga, which overshadowed a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and data showing Japan's economy shrinking at its fastest rate since the 1974 oil crisis, has dealt a huge and perhaps fatal blow to Aso and his party, analysts said.

    "Basically, it's just another blow for essentially an administration that comes across as increasingly unprofessional," Jesper Koll, Chief Executive Officer of Tantallon Research Japan, told Reuters.
    Aso's public support had already plummeted to less than 10 percent after a string of other gaffes and policy flip-flops.
    Polls already show his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is in danger of losing power in an election that must be held by October.
    That would end more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule and usher in a government led by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).

    "The government isn't functioning at all. I think it's time for the Japanese people to judge whether they still want the LDP. If that's the case, then the LDP should continue but," said Democractic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader Ichiro Ozawa calling for an immediate election on Tuesday.
    Many Japanese on the streets of Tokyo reflected the mood of the opinion polls.

    "I'm not satisfied with the current politics. I was expecting Aso to do well, but I'm not happy because he doesn't have any solid ideas,"
    Takefumi Maruyama, 70-year-old retired businessman, told Reuters.
    Aso, Japan's third prime minister in less than two years, is trying to get parliament to fund an immediate stimulus package and also a record 958 billion U.S. dollars budget for the year to March 2010 to help rescue the economy from recession.

    "I'm not happy because the Prime Minister and former Economics Minister continuously changed their minds and took forever to put any economic measures, which is something we need the most as we struggle in this recession," said 46-year-old businessman Mitsuhiko Hishinuma.
    Others suggest a more drastic change.

    "I don't think it'll make any difference who we vote for in the next election. I'd rather have all our politicians resign if this is the best we'll ever have," said 28-year-old businesswoman Tomoko Suzuki.
    However the opposition party would want a snap election right away.
    Some analysts say it is not in their hands and may not necessarily be something that will happen right away.

    "An election, a challenge to Aso, a challenge to Prime Minister Aso has to come from within the LDP," said Koll.

    "Somebody in the LDP actually must want to have the job, must actually want to be the leader of the party and the leader of the country, and quite frankly right now, nobody in the LDP, appears to have this sort of spirit."
    Others say Aso could decide to step down on his own or be forced out after the enactment of the 2009/10 budget and related bills in late March or April and after the announcement of more stimulus.
    The LDP would then replace Aso and the new Prime Minister -- Japan's fourth since the last general election -- would call a snap poll in the hope of benefiting from a bounce in support rates.
    ENDS.
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