Close contest expected for Japan PM

Ryutaro Hashimoto (right) with former leadership contender Hiromu Nonaka

TOKYO, Japan -- The race to pick Japan's next leader became more difficult on Thursday amid fresh signs that frontrunner and former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto faced a tough battle against one popular challenger.

Hashimoto, head of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) biggest faction, had been expected to have the upper hand against former Health Minister Junichiro Koizumi in the April 24 election for party president that brings with it the prime ministership.

But the possibility of strong rank-and-file support for Koizumi -- running on a "Change Japan, Change the LDP" platform to woo voters ahead of a July Upper House election -- has made the outcome unpredictable.

A senior Hashimoto ally suggested Thursday that Hashimoto would retain the ruling party's current leaders if he is selected next week to succeed unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

Hiromu Nonaka, a powerful supporter of Hashimoto, said the current leadership should remain in office under the new administration to provide the continuity needed to carry our economic reforms and other pressing government business.

The statement was seen as an attempt to win the support of party policy chief Shizuka Kamei, who along with Hashimoto is seeking to replace Mori in the elections next Tuesday.

Longshot candidate

Though Kamei is the head of one of the ruling LDP's largest factions, he is seen as a longshot candidate after Hashimoto and Koizumi. A fourth candidate is Economic Minister Taro Aso, who is also seen as having little chance of winning. Kamei could, however, end up casting the deciding vote if Hashimoto and Koizumi fail to muster a majority in the first round of voting, forcing a run-off. Many analysts now believe that is likely, and the campaign has over the past week heated up considerably. Whoever wins the vote Tuesday by the party's members of Parliament and representatives of its local chapters is assured of becoming prime minister because of the Liberal Democrats' strength in Parliament. The winner is expected to be officially named prime minister shortly after the party election.

Hashimoto has pledged to implement a "200-day plan," in which he would try to bolster the economy and tackle the nagging problem of bad debt that has hamstrung Japan's banking industry.

Koizumi, meanwhile, has focused on his pet project of privatizing Japan's huge postal savings system and stopping a plunge in support for the ruling party.

Mori's lack of support, due to a series of scandals and gaffes over the past year, forced him to announce he would step down this month instead of in September, when his term as party president was to end.

Each of the 346 LDP lawmakers has one vote in the contest, while the party's 2.4 million other members' ballots are boiled down to 141 votes -- three for each of Japan's 47 prefectures (states).

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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Liberal Democratic Party of Japan

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