LDP gears itself for succession battle after Mori hints at quitting

Mori indicated on Saturday he intended to resign. The LDP leader automatically becomes prime minister because the party is the biggest in parliament. Among the candidates to take over are former LDP secretary general Hiromu Nonaka, former health minister Junichiro Koizumi and a former prime minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto.

Observers say calls for a new face are growing and, with elections for the upper house of parliament scheduled for July, the way could be clear for a younger politician like Justice Minister Masahiko Komura. But some analysts think that if the party does believe it is headed for an electoral defeat, it might go for a caretaker leader.

The speculation about Mori's resignation comes at a time when the economy appears to be slipping back into recession. Mori's stock has fallen after a series of gaffes and internal party scandals as well as impending financial crisis. His approval rate in opinion polls has plunged as low as 10 per cent from an initial 40 per cent.

Last month he came under intense party pressure to quit when he refused to stop playing golf after being told of a Japanese trawler sinking after being hit by a surfacing U.S. submarine near Hawaii. The three-party governing coalition is worried that it will lose the July election if Mori remains LDP head.

Publicly, Mori continues to deny he is thinking of quitting. But speculation about a successor was fuelled by his remarks Saturday when he said he wanted to bring forward the party leadership poll from September. His actual resignation is expected to take place in April, after the fiscal 2001 budget and its related bills clear the Diet.

Reform-oriented politicians within the LDP are demanding that the next party leader - and thus prime minister - is not chosen by the usual backroom deal but in a transparent process. Mori became party leader 11 months ago in succession to the ill Keizo Obuchi - who has since died - when he was heaved into power by party power brokers in just such a backroom deal.

(la/dpa)