Mori's days as PM run out as leadership election date decided

The long-awaited date for an election to replace the lameduck Prime Minister of Japan, Mr Yoshiro Mori, has finally been set for April 24th.

As expected, fixers in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the dominant party in a threeway coalition, wasted no time in ousting the deeply unpopular leader once they had finalised yet another emergency rescue package for Japan's flagging economy.

The news to hold elections for the leadership of the LDP, which came almost exactly a year after Mr Mori was pushed into the political limelight by party fixers following the collapse of the previous prime minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, was left to his party colleagues to announce. Mr Mori himself has yet to meet the press.

While the countdown to Mr Mori's exit was greeted with near audible sighs of relief from a jaded Japanese public, however, there was still little sign of a clear contender for the post who is likely to become Japan's 11th prime minister in 12 years.

Yesterday's newspapers announced that the LDP's largest faction had decided not to field their strongest candidate, Mr Hiromu Nonaka, regarded as the embodiment of old-fashioned Japanese backroom politics, for the presidential position. In his place, a former prime minister, Mr Ryutaro Hashimoto, appears to have emerged as the front-runner.

The LDP is hoping that Mr Hashimoto, who is regarded as a skilled and intelligent political operator, can save them from defeat in the crucial Upper House elections in July this year. If elected, his smooth, media-friendly persona will stand in stark contrast to the inarticulate and politically clumsy Mr Mori. Some members of the party, however, are opposed to his selection since his resignation in 1998 following a thrashing in elections that year. The only other potential contender to emerge is Mr Junchiro Koizumi, a reformer with many conservative opponents, although no politician has formally thrown his hat into the ring.

Some political commentators said this week that the sight of the LDP, which has been in almost continuous power since 1955, scrambling for a leader among a small group of weak and reluctant candidates is a sign that their era may be nearing its end.

The veteran political analyst Kenzo Uchida told his readers in the Japan Times yesterday: "The confusion in the LDP over Mori's replacement shows the dysfunction of the LDP and Japanese politics."

Reuters adds:

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party said yesterday it had set up a committee to monitor television news programmes to ensure they broadcast unbiased reports.

"We feel there are programmes which lack fairness and improvement on this cannot be seen from self-restriction from television broadcasters," LDP Deputy Secretary-General Mr Naoto Kitamura said.

The move seems aimed at putting pressure on the media ahead of an internal vote for LDP party chief on April 24th and an election for parliament's Upper House in July, the Asahi Shimbun daily said. The LDP has put similar pressure on the media in the past.