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End of the road for Japan PM

Tom Clifford

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is facing political oblivion after party chiefs failed to reach a deal to stave off defeat for his Government in a no-confidence vote today.

The embattled Mr Mori, in office for just seven months, defied an ultimatum yesterday from leaders of some factions of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to resign ahead of the vote.

Four opposition parties are to submit a no-confidence motion against Mr Mori today. Koichi Kato, a reformist LDP rival, has said he will vote in favour of it, taking members of his and an allied faction with him. If that happens, the Government will be defeated and Mr Mori must either resign within 10 days or call a general election.

Given the Government's unpopularity, many LDP lawmakers and their coalition partners are reluctant to face voters so soon after the party's mauling in the June Upper House poll, in which the LDP lost its majority. Mr Kato said an election was not a viable option for the LDP, adding: 'We cannot take such a suicidal step.'

LDP faction leaders met all day to search for a compromise that would save the party from disintegration.

The party's secretary-general, Hiromu Nonaka - one of four leaders who picked Mr Mori to replace the dying Keizo Obuchi in April - floated a compromise to keep Mr Kato on-side, offering to bring forward from September an election for LDP president, who is also prime minister. He said Mr Mori might resign, though not by today, adding that the Prime Minister 'is seriously accepting the reality that his support base is declining'.

The previous night, Mr Nonaka had urged Mr Mori to stand firm and had backed Mr Kato's expulsion from the party. Mr Kato responded: '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.' Highlighting the chaos that has engulfed the LDP, hours later the secretary-general - after strong protests from factions in support of Mr Mori - was telling Mr Kato that an early party election was out of the question and Mr Mori could not resign yet. He again threatened the rebel and his allies with expulsion unless they dropped their threat to vote with the opposition today. 'It's obvious that I would not step down before the voting takes place in Parliament,' Yomiuri Shimbun news service quoted Mr Mori as telling acting faction head Junichiro Koizumi last night.

Last night two vice-ministers belonging to Mr Kato's faction and that of his chief ally resigned so they could vote for the motion.

Mr Kato, 61, has insisted that Mr Mori, his popularity tumbling due to verbal blunders and cabinet scandals, must step down to revive the LDP. He wants to wean the party off its reliance on the pork-barrel spending that has left Japan with a public debt that, as a ratio to GDP, is the largest among the advanced nations.

Mr Kato insisted that he and his allies, together with the opposition's 190 members, had the votes to pass the no-confidence motion in the 480-seat Lower House of Parliament. Mr Nonaka was equally adamant that the motion would fail.

Faced with the threat of expulsion, some lawmakers in Mr Kato's faction are pondering their moves. 'I will make up my mind a minute before the vote,' Takumi Nemoto, a lawmaker with Mr Kato's faction, said.

In May, Mr Mori caused outrage by saying Japan was 'a divine nation centred on the emperor', an ideology similar to that which inspired wartime militarism. He also said during the June election campaign that undecided voters should stay in bed, a remark that was seen as undermining his democratic credentials. Just last week, as the crisis sparked by Mr Kato was emerging, Mr Mori claimed to have the 'mandate of heaven' for his rule. Public support for Mr Mori's cabinet has dropped to below 20 per cent this month.

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