ID :
187054
Tue, 06/07/2011 - 19:01
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/187054
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DPJ eyeing election to pick Kan's successor in early July
TOKYO, June 7 Kyodo - The ruling Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday started making arrangements to hold its presidential election in early July to pick Prime Minister Naoto Kan's successor.
Even so, major opposition parties say that Kan must resign immediately after the enactment of a bill outlining the rebuilding of areas affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which is expected as soon as June 17.
The secretaries general of the No. 1 and No. 2 opposition parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, agreed Tuesday on the timing to have Kan step down, lawmakers said.
The planned schedule for the ruling party's leadership election was unveiled by Ichiro Aisawa, LDP Diet affairs chief, after he held talks with his DPJ counterpart Jun Azumi.
Some executives of the DPJ and the LDP are exploring the possibility of forming a grand coalition after the premier's resignation.
But a tug of war continues over when Kan, Japan's fifth prime minister in five years, should quit.
A growing number of DPJ lawmakers believe the appropriate time for Kan to step down would be when the government secures cooperation from the LDP on passing a bill required for it to issue deficit-covering bonds in fiscal 2011.
The two opposition parties have said they have no plans to cooperate with the DPJ-led government in passing the bill as long as Kan stays in power.
But there appears to be room for the bill to be enacted by the end of this month if the opposition parties soften their current stance.
Without the bill's passage in a divided parliament, where the LDP and other opposition parties control the upper house, the government would be unable to secure about 40 percent of the revenue planned in the 92.41 trillion yen budget for the year that started in April.
The current 150-day ordinary Diet session will end June 22, if not extended. The timing of Kan's resignation, the outlook for the passage of the bill and whether to prolong the session are intricately interrelated.
Mikio Shimoji, a senior lawmaker of the DPJ's tiny ruling coalition partner, the People's New Party, said at a news conference that Kan should quit after securing passage of the bill by June 22.
LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, who proposed the timing of Kan's resignation, indicated at a meeting of his party that it is ready to establish cross-party cooperation to avoid policy paralysis.
''By creating a new framework, we will not escape from our responsibility to deal with the reconstruction,'' Tanigaki said.
Meanwhile, Kan, who announced last week his intention to leave office in the near future, asked his Cabinet members in the morning to speed up the process of drawing up the second extra budget for the current fiscal year to secure more funds for reconstruction measures.
''I want to have the prospects of being able to manage the reconstruction and the containment of the nuclear crisis as soon as possible,'' a Cabinet member quoted Kan as saying in reference to the timing of his resignation. ''There have been many opinions, but I want to take a commonsense approach in deciding on the matter.''
Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto suggested to reporters traveling with him in Budapest on Monday that if the DPJ forms a grand coalition with opposition parties, it should last more than a year to make significant progress in rebuilding the disaster-stricken northeastern region.
Many other Cabinet members are also supportive of the idea of creating a grand coalition to tackle a host of challenges facing Japan.
But it remains to be seen whether the idea of such an alliance will materialize any time soon as there are strong objections to it among both DPJ and LDP lawmakers, partly because of policy differences.
The LDP has urged the DPJ to scrap some of its major policy pledges of the 2009 general election, which the opposition party criticizes as wasteful, such as monthly allowances for families with children.
In the hope of getting close to the LDP, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada and DPJ policy chief Koichiro Gemba agreed Tuesday that the ruling party will accelerate its efforts to review the pledges.
Kenji Hirata, secretary general of the DPJ's upper house caucus, said ''To start with, the party must pick its new leader'' before discussing whether to form a grand coalition.
Real coordination over a potential new government structure will not likely take place until the party presidential election is over, DPJ lawmakers said.
New Komeito is cautious about joining hands with the DPJ. Other opposition parties and the People's New Party have expressed strong opposition to a grand coalition.
Even so, major opposition parties say that Kan must resign immediately after the enactment of a bill outlining the rebuilding of areas affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which is expected as soon as June 17.
The secretaries general of the No. 1 and No. 2 opposition parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, agreed Tuesday on the timing to have Kan step down, lawmakers said.
The planned schedule for the ruling party's leadership election was unveiled by Ichiro Aisawa, LDP Diet affairs chief, after he held talks with his DPJ counterpart Jun Azumi.
Some executives of the DPJ and the LDP are exploring the possibility of forming a grand coalition after the premier's resignation.
But a tug of war continues over when Kan, Japan's fifth prime minister in five years, should quit.
A growing number of DPJ lawmakers believe the appropriate time for Kan to step down would be when the government secures cooperation from the LDP on passing a bill required for it to issue deficit-covering bonds in fiscal 2011.
The two opposition parties have said they have no plans to cooperate with the DPJ-led government in passing the bill as long as Kan stays in power.
But there appears to be room for the bill to be enacted by the end of this month if the opposition parties soften their current stance.
Without the bill's passage in a divided parliament, where the LDP and other opposition parties control the upper house, the government would be unable to secure about 40 percent of the revenue planned in the 92.41 trillion yen budget for the year that started in April.
The current 150-day ordinary Diet session will end June 22, if not extended. The timing of Kan's resignation, the outlook for the passage of the bill and whether to prolong the session are intricately interrelated.
Mikio Shimoji, a senior lawmaker of the DPJ's tiny ruling coalition partner, the People's New Party, said at a news conference that Kan should quit after securing passage of the bill by June 22.
LDP leader Sadakazu Tanigaki, who proposed the timing of Kan's resignation, indicated at a meeting of his party that it is ready to establish cross-party cooperation to avoid policy paralysis.
''By creating a new framework, we will not escape from our responsibility to deal with the reconstruction,'' Tanigaki said.
Meanwhile, Kan, who announced last week his intention to leave office in the near future, asked his Cabinet members in the morning to speed up the process of drawing up the second extra budget for the current fiscal year to secure more funds for reconstruction measures.
''I want to have the prospects of being able to manage the reconstruction and the containment of the nuclear crisis as soon as possible,'' a Cabinet member quoted Kan as saying in reference to the timing of his resignation. ''There have been many opinions, but I want to take a commonsense approach in deciding on the matter.''
Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto suggested to reporters traveling with him in Budapest on Monday that if the DPJ forms a grand coalition with opposition parties, it should last more than a year to make significant progress in rebuilding the disaster-stricken northeastern region.
Many other Cabinet members are also supportive of the idea of creating a grand coalition to tackle a host of challenges facing Japan.
But it remains to be seen whether the idea of such an alliance will materialize any time soon as there are strong objections to it among both DPJ and LDP lawmakers, partly because of policy differences.
The LDP has urged the DPJ to scrap some of its major policy pledges of the 2009 general election, which the opposition party criticizes as wasteful, such as monthly allowances for families with children.
In the hope of getting close to the LDP, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada and DPJ policy chief Koichiro Gemba agreed Tuesday that the ruling party will accelerate its efforts to review the pledges.
Kenji Hirata, secretary general of the DPJ's upper house caucus, said ''To start with, the party must pick its new leader'' before discussing whether to form a grand coalition.
Real coordination over a potential new government structure will not likely take place until the party presidential election is over, DPJ lawmakers said.
New Komeito is cautious about joining hands with the DPJ. Other opposition parties and the People's New Party have expressed strong opposition to a grand coalition.
