Minister, opposition lawmaker broach subject of `double election`

TOKYO, April 16 Kyodo -
A Cabinet minister and a senior opposition lawmaker on Friday mentioned the
possibility of elections being held for both houses of parliament at the same
time given that Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is likely to find himself in a
bind over the future of the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa.
''There is a logical possibility that we could call a double (election),
although we'd be sorry (about calling a general election) within just a year,''
national policy minister Yoshito Sengoku said during the recording of a Tokyo
Broadcasting System program to be aired on Sunday morning.
Sengoku was referring to the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's possible course
of action in the event that Hatoyama, the party's president, is forced to step
down before the House of Councillors election this summer.
But Sengoku expressed his continuing support for Hatoyama, saying, ''I want
Prime Minister Hatoyama to work hard to overcome (the current situation).''
Hatoyama has pledged to resolve the issue of where to relocate the base by the
end of May.
''It isn't good for party politics to have the prime minister change every
year,'' Sengoku said, adding that such an outcome would create ''mistrust and
despair'' among the Japanese people regarding politics.
When a moderator of the program said the House of Representatives should be
dissolved for a general election if Hatoyama is to be replaced, however,
Sengoku said, ''The double (election) theory has been circulating recently. You
may be right about that.''
Meanwhile, Jiro Kawasaki, the Diet affairs chief of the main opposition Liberal
Democratic Party, expressed caution about holding a double election.
At a gathering in Tokyo, Kawasaki said he has heard that DPJ Secretary General
Ichiro Ozawa may be thinking about holding elections for both houses of
parliament on the same day to seek a fresh popular mandate and reinvigorate the
DPJ-led government under a new prime minister.
While the upper house election is widely expected to be held on July 11,
Kawasaki said it could be pushed back to July 25 if Hatoyama steps down as
prime minister.
''If the prime minister resigns, the current parliamentary session may be
extended for about 10 days to accommodate the DPJ leadership election, the
election to choose a new prime minister and the selection of Cabinet
ministers,'' he said.
==Kyodo