Kamei leaves new Cabinet after row over postal reform bill+

TOKYO, June 11 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan let Shizuka Kamei, the outspoken chief of the People's
New Party, leave his Cabinet on Friday following a row over when to try to pass
a postal reform bill the small coalition party considers vital.
Despite Kamei's resignation, the Democratic Party of Japan and the PNP, the
ruling party's sole coalition partner, have confirmed they will maintain their
partnership and cooperate in the House of Councillors election, expected for
July 11.
PNP Secretary General Shozaburo Jimi succeeded Kamei as minister in charge of
the banking sector and postal reform.
''I regret the resignation of Mr. Kamei,'' Kan told reporters. ''But I believe
our ties with the PNP will continue in a steady manner.''
Only three days after Kan took office, Kamei left the Cabinet launched
following the sudden resignation of Kan's predecessor Yukio Hatoyama.
The date of the upper house election now appears certain as the DPJ on Thursday
night decided not to extend the current Diet session, set to end next
Wednesday, for more than one day just to pass the bill to scale down postal
privatization.
The decision sparked protest from Kamei as he is a strong advocate of scaling
back postal privatization plans mapped out by previous governments led by the
Liberal Democratic Party.
The tiny party had demanded that the 150-day ordinary Diet session be extended
in order to pass the bill.
''A promise between the two parties has been broken, so I've decided to leave
the Cabinet to take responsibility, as leader of the PNP,'' Kamei said during a
hastily arranged press conference at the party's headquarters early Friday.
He was talking about an accord last year between the DPJ and the PNP on forming
the coalition government, which includes efforts to ''swiftly pass'' the postal
bill.
Kan, who first persuaded Kamei not to leave the Cabinet, held talks with DPJ
Secretary General Yukio Edano in the morning prior to the Cabinet meeting and
eventually decided to let Kamei go in line with his request.
''There will be no major impact'' on the two-party coalition government, Edano
told reporters at a Tokyo hotel after the meeting.
Edano said the two parties will try to pass the bill during a special Diet
session to be held after the upper house election. Kamei's successor Jimi
echoed Edano's view after being appointed to the Cabinet, saying he is willing
to submit the bill to the special session without making any changes.
The DPJ, which does not hold a majority on its own in the upper chamber, wanted
to avoid another party leaving the coalition following the Social Democratic
Party's departure late May, prior to Hatoyama's resignation, which was
triggered by his broken promise of moving a U.S. military base outside of
Okinawa Prefecture.
''We're forming the coalition to implement policies. If that becomes difficult
by being together with the DPJ, we will quickly break up with it. I mean it,''
Kamei, who will remain head of the PNP, told reporters Friday evening when
asked about whether there was a choice for his party to leave the alliance.
Opposition party leaders said they find it difficult to understand the DPJ and
the PNP sticking together even after Kamei resigned as a member of the Cabinet
in protest at the main ruling party's stance.
''There's already discord in the Cabinet,'' LDP Secretary General Tadamori
Oshima told reporters. ''They're just thinking of winning the election. This is
flimsy politics.''
A written agreement reached between the DPJ and PNP has been released, saying
they will maintain the ruling alliance before and after the election, and put
priority on deliberating the bill in an extraordinary Diet session.
As wrangling continued within the ruling coalition over whether to extend the
current Diet session, a senior DPJ lawmaker said late Thursday night, ''We've
decided not to extend the session beyond next Thursday.''
The lawmaker's remarks mean the upper house election is almost certain to be
held July 11 under the election law's provisions on parliamentary sittings and
election dates.
DPJ lawmakers, especially those seeking reelection, have been heartened by a
recent sharp rebound in their party's support ratings and they hope to hold the
election as soon as possible.
Kan's Cabinet has had more than a 60 percent support rating since he took
office on Tuesday, compared with about 20 percent for the previous Cabinet in
the final days of Hatoyama.
==Kyodo
2010-06-11 23:01:58