Japan's ruling party in tug of war over no-confidence vote

Japan's ruling party in tug of war over no-confidence vote
AGENCIES

TOKYO, NOV 19: A party strongman within Japan's ruling party today said Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, faced with an opposition no-confidence motion, could go only after he has fulfilled his duty.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secretary general Hiromu Nonaka also threatened to expell his predecessor Koichi Kato unless he dropped his threat to join the no-confidence vote due late tomorrow.

In a last-ditch tug of war, Kato, who leads a major LDP faction, said he would withdraw his promise to back the vote only if the gaffe-prone premier is otherwise made to step down "in the near future".

But Nonaka, a reputed power-broker, said any party leaders hip shakeup should wait until after the LDP's convention set for next March.

Instead, Nonaka and other LDP executives decided at a meeting today to expell Kato and his ally Taku Yamasaki from the party if they fail to voluntarily quit it.

"Unless they accept our recommendations to leave the party by noon tomorrow, we will expell them," Shizuka Kamei, head of the LDP's policy affairs council, told reporters after the meeting.

Nonaka said earlier on a television talk show that it would be possible to bring forward a party presidential election scheduled for next September. But party rules should be changed at the convention to accomodate such an early contest.

Nonaka, who was one of the four LDP leaders who hand-picked Mori last April in a backroom deal to replace the then coma-stricken and dying Keizo Obuchi, said he could not rule out the possibility of Mori resigning.

"But it is not a matter that would happen today or tomorrow," Nonaka said. "We should let Mori do what he should do as Prime Minister before he clears up his position himself".

Kato said in the same show, "I will not sympathise with the no-confidence motion if the party executive lays the ground for Mori's exit and promises to bring forward and hold the (party) presidential election in the near future".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mori said on Sunday that there was no question of his resigning before a no-confidence vote is tabled in parliament, the Yomiuri Shimbun news service said.

"It's obvious that I would not step down before the voting takes place in parliament," the news service quoted Mori as telling Junichiro Koizumi, acting head of Mori's faction in the multi-group ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).