Report: Mori to go in April

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Leaders in Japan's ruling coalition have decided unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will step down in early April.

A newspaper report Tuesday said the embattled Mori would go after next fiscal year's budget passes Parliament.

Top power brokers in Mori's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) met Monday night with the chiefs of two junior coalition partners and charted a timetable for the leader's fall, the mass-circulation Asahi Shimbun said.

Mori will likely announce his resignation on March 13 at the LDP convention, and a party leadership election to replace him will be held in early April, the Asahi said. It did not cite sources.

New popularity lows

The report comes as Mori's popularity sank to another new low.

Kyodo News service said Mori's approval has dropped to 6.5 percent, with 86 percent of respondents demanding he step down immediately or after the 2001 budget is passed.

Mori's government has been battered by a constant stream of scandals and gaffes.

The Kyodo poll of 1,000 eligible voters on Saturday and Sunday registered the lowest support rating for a prime minister since 1989, when a Kyodo survey showed prime minister Noboru Takeshita with 4 percent support.

The poll, which offered no margin of error, showed support for Mori falling by 17 percentage points since an earlier Kyodo survey in February.

Sub reaction sinks opinion

A separate poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun published in the paper's Tuesday morning editions said Mori's support had fallen to 8.6 percent. It offered no margin of error.

Mori's standing has suffered especially since the Feb. 9 collision between a U.S. Navy submarine and a Japanese fishing vessel. Nine Japanese are missing and presumed dead.

Mori was told of the accident during a golf game, and he has been widely criticized for continuing the game rather than rushing to his office to lead Tokyo's reaction to the collision.

About 82 percent of respondents in the latest poll said they do not support the cabinet. Support from women in their 20s to 50s was particularly low, ranging between 1 percent and 4 percent, Kyodo said.

Thirty-five percent of the respondents said they do not support Mori because he cannot lead effectively, while 28 percent said they do not trust him.

Mori took office in April 2000, after his predecessor Keizo Obuchi suffered a fatal stroke.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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