Opposition lawmakers seek Hatoyama`s explanation on donation scandal+

TOKYO, Nov. 29 Kyodo -
Opposition lawmakers on Sunday sought an explanation from Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama over an alleged political donations scandal involving the premier.
''We want him to give an explanation in the Diet,'' Jiro Kawasaki, Diet affairs
chief of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, said on a TV program.
Yoshio Urushibara, chairman of the New Komeito party's Diet Policy Committee,
concurred with Kawasaki, while Keiji Kokuta, parliamentary affairs chief of the
Japanese Communist Party, criticized Hatoyama for being ''irresponsible as a
politician.''
Masamichi Kondo, head of Diet affairs in the House of Councillors for the
Social Democratic Party, a junior member of the ruling coalition led by
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, also called on Hatoyama to explain
himself.
''The prime minister must be held accountable to some degree,'' Kondo said.
''We do not think he has done enough, so we hope he will take the opportunity
to fulfill his accountability.''
But Kenji Yamaoka, Diet affairs chief for the DPJ, said only that Hatoyama
should place priority on protecting people's livelihoods and wondered how the
scandal would affect their lives.
Prosecutors suspect that more than 300 million yen may have been falsely
declared in Hatoyama's political funds reports and that his 87-year-old mother
may have contributed some of the money, according to sources close to the
matter.
==Kyodo