DPJ scrambles to avoid instability after serious electoral setback+

TOKYO, July 12 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's ruling party on Monday moved to allay any impression
of political confusion following its electoral setback, exploring the
possibility of keeping the current leadership intact and finding partners from
the opposition camp based on each policy.
Kan, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, discussed with other top party
members ways to minimize the impact of Sunday's losses and agreed that they
will retain his Cabinet members and the party's leadership lineup for the time
being, they said.
Kan said he has no plans to dissolve the more powerful House of
Representatives, although some opposition parties are calling on him to do so
following the DPJ's setback in the upper house election.
''I am not even thinking about it,'' Kan told reporters at the premier's
office, referring to the possibility of calling for a snap election.
Kan said he will instead try to work more closely with opposition parties to
implement necessary polices.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also said the DPJ has no plans to
change the party's leadership lineup, including Secretary General Yukio Edano,
for the sake of taking the blame for the party's poor election outcome, which
led the ruling coalition to lose an overall majority in the House of
Councillors.
Sengoku said all Cabinet members, including unseated Justice Minister Keiko
Chiba, will keep their posts at least until the DPJ holds its leadership
election in September.
The government's top spokesman said changing Japanese political leaders over
and over will not help the country to resolve its stalemate.
''Following this new situation, we will probably writhe in considerable agony
over how to shift the country's politics,'' Sengoku said. ''But I believe that
Japanese politics will not mature without overcoming this.''
Sengoku said ''the most important'' thing is making efforts to seek cooperation
from opposition parties to avoid gridlock in Diet deliberations.
Edano himself expressed his intention to remain in the No. 2 post of the DPJ,
which stays in power as it controls the more powerful House of Representatives.
Edano, speaking at a news conference following a meeting attended by DPJ
executives, said Kan issued him with ''strong instructions to fulfill'' his
duties as secretary general.
Kan's Cabinet members, including Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki
Naoshima, were in favor of retaining their positions.
''If we change the prime minister, or the (party) leadership, the public may
feel 'Not again!' and we may also lose international trust,'' Naoshima, who was
reelected, told reporters. ''This is a very tough decision. But I think it is
better for us to work hard under Prime Minister Kan.''
The DPJ's failure to maintain control of the upper house was triggered by Kan's
remarks suggesting a possible hike in the consumption tax in the years ahead to
rein in Japan's huge public debt.
Edano said he sees no need to stick to the goal, avowed by Kan before the
election, of drafting by the end of fiscal 2010 a blueprint for a possible hike
in the consumption tax. He added that it is necessary to approach the issue at
a pace that would gain broad public understanding and consent.
Even so, pressure is mounting on Kan, Edano and other top DPJ leaders to step
down to take responsibility for the electoral losses from within their own
party.
If Kan fails to establish cooperative links with the opposition bloc, then he
is likely to come under more pressures from within his party ahead of its
presidency election in September.
The Liberal Democratic Party and other parties from the opposition front have
shown no plans to cooperate with the DPJ.
''I want you to cooperate well with other opposition parties'' to fight the
DPJ, LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki told a meeting of party executives, which
endorsed his continued leadership.
Among the 121 seats up for grabs in Sunday's upper house election, the main
opposition LDP won 51 seats, up from the 38 it had before.
In Sunday's poll, the DPJ secured only 44 seats, despite Kan's target of at
least 54, the same number of the ruling party's seats that were being contested
in the triennial election, in which half the chamber's seats are up for grabs.
==Kyodo
2010-07-13 00:04:52