Mori's resignation tipped to come soon

Local media expect the economic crisis will trigger Mori's resignation

In this story: Political confusion Likely contenders RELATED STORIES

By Yoko Wakatsuki,
CNN Tokyo Producer

TOKYO, Japan -- Speculation is increasing that Japan's embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will announce his resignation this weekend.

Local media reported that Mori might even reveal his intention to go in indirect wording when he meets with his coalition partners Saturday in the light of Japan's deteriorating economic situation.

But Mori denied that he would quit and a news agency quoted him as saying: "If you write 'tomorrow,' you'll make a fool of yourself."

Earlier, major Japanese newspapers, the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, reported that Mori might express his intention to step down as early as Friday.

Political pressure has been mounting on Mori to step down. His administration has been suffering, with a nose-diving support rate lower than 10 percent.

Even his coalition leaders called for Mori to clarify his position ahead of the LDP party convention that is scheduled for March 13.

Political confusion

Analysts say Mori's resignation should come before the convention to avoid more political confusion ahead of a critical Upper House national election in July.

The latest will-he won't-he confusion over Mori's resignation came at a delicate time with his coalition trying to boost Japan's struggling economy.

Gloomy prospects for the economy, which stands on the brink of falling into recession, have kept share prices at 15-year low levels.

The LDP and its coalition partners presented an emergency economic stimulus package to the Mori administration Friday.

The plan recommends that the government take comprehensive policy measures, including tax incentives to encourage investors in the stock market and improvements to the liquidity in the real estate market.

Opposition parties, seizing on the potential for a lame-duck premier, agreed Thursday to boycott parliamentary debate if Mori pledged to step down but delayed his actual resignation, Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Likely contenders

Wily LDP powerbroker Hiromu Nonaka, one of the "Gang of Four" who selected Mori for the top job last April and a heavyweight in the party's biggest faction, and Junichiro Koizumi, the reformist but somewhat eccentric head of Mori's own faction, top the list of often-cited candidates to become the next prime minister.

The LDP's two allies, the New Komeito and the tiny New Conservative Party, favor Nonaka, but his "fixer" image is unlikely to go down well with a broad swathe of the public.

Chikage Ogi, head of the New Conservative Party and herself whispered to be a dark horse candidate, urged Nonaka to take the post but got no reply, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported on Thursday, citing LDP sources.

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, a proponent of fiscal restructuring who resigned after the LDP lost the last Upper House election in 1998 and who is now a minister in Mori's cabinet, is another contender, as are Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma and Economics Minister Taro Aso.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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