ID :
188274
Mon, 06/13/2011 - 18:39
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/188274
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Chance of Kan's early resignation grows over legislative deadlock
TOKYO (Kyodo) - The likelihood of Prime Minister Naoto Kan succumbing to strong pressure for his resignation as early as this month increased Monday, following calls from within his own government for his rapid departure to avoid legislative deadlock.
Kan will likely ask opposition parties to organize discussions with their leaders, during which the premier is expected to call on them to cooperate in passing a bill in the Diet that is required for the government to issue deficit-covering bonds in fiscal 2011 in exchange for his early resignation, ruling party lawmakers said.
Kan, who has voiced a desire to stay in power at least until around August, held talks with Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, the junior partner in the Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition government, to discuss the future of his one-year-old premiership.
Kan and Kamei agreed it will be necessary to extend the current Diet session beyond June 22 to realize the budget-related bill's passage and craft the second extra budget for fiscal 2011 to raise more funds to assist the people affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the lawmakers.
Kamei said at a news conference that Kan expressed his intention to formulate the extra budget by mid-July during their talks at the premier's office.
But DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, who attended the talks, said at a news conference he ''does not remember'' about Kan's reference to mid-July over the budget.
Chief Cabinet Yukio Edano said the next extra budget that has been envisaged by the government is not likely to be a sizable one, excluding a large portion of spending needed to fully rebuild the disaster-stricken northeastern region.
Edano, the top government spokesman, said at a news conference the government is now considering securing money still necessary for the restoration of the region, serving as a ''supplement'' for the first extra budget of 4.02 trillion yen, enacted in May.
The DPJ-led government is planning to draft a major extra budget by the end of August to finance the country's largest reconstruction work since the years after World War II, according to the lawmakers.
However, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, one of the key players in arranging a post-Kan government structure, said over the weekend on TV programs and to reporters that it is important to secure a promise from the opposition camp on the budget-related bill's passage by the premier's resignation.
The bill's passage is needed to secure about 40 percent of the revenue planned in the 92.41 trillion yen budget for the year that started in April.
Kan survived a no-confidence motion earlier this month by promising to leave office in the near future after certain progress is made in containing a nuclear crisis and rebuilding the disaster-stricken northeastern region.
The premier, however, has left the exact timing of his resignation vague.
Sengoku has suggested Kan needs to step down this month and that the next budget should be drawn up by the incoming prime minister while also cooperating with the Liberal Democratic Party and other smaller opposition parties, which control the upper house of parliament.
Sengoku hinted at the possibility of Kan referring to his readiness to resign soon at a meeting of all parliamentarians from his DPJ, which may be held on Friday.
Among DPJ senior lawmakers, Sengoku is known as an advocate of forming a coalition government between the DPJ and LDP to overcome the current difficulties facing Japan.
But the LDP has so far remained reluctant about forming a grand coalition with the DPJ even after Kan is unseated.
Within the DPJ, the idea of establishing a framework in which executives of both ruling and opposition parties can get together to discuss post-disaster measures is now more dominant, the lawmakers said.
Kan will likely ask opposition parties to organize discussions with their leaders, during which the premier is expected to call on them to cooperate in passing a bill in the Diet that is required for the government to issue deficit-covering bonds in fiscal 2011 in exchange for his early resignation, ruling party lawmakers said.
Kan, who has voiced a desire to stay in power at least until around August, held talks with Shizuka Kamei, leader of the People's New Party, the junior partner in the Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition government, to discuss the future of his one-year-old premiership.
Kan and Kamei agreed it will be necessary to extend the current Diet session beyond June 22 to realize the budget-related bill's passage and craft the second extra budget for fiscal 2011 to raise more funds to assist the people affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the lawmakers.
Kamei said at a news conference that Kan expressed his intention to formulate the extra budget by mid-July during their talks at the premier's office.
But DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, who attended the talks, said at a news conference he ''does not remember'' about Kan's reference to mid-July over the budget.
Chief Cabinet Yukio Edano said the next extra budget that has been envisaged by the government is not likely to be a sizable one, excluding a large portion of spending needed to fully rebuild the disaster-stricken northeastern region.
Edano, the top government spokesman, said at a news conference the government is now considering securing money still necessary for the restoration of the region, serving as a ''supplement'' for the first extra budget of 4.02 trillion yen, enacted in May.
The DPJ-led government is planning to draft a major extra budget by the end of August to finance the country's largest reconstruction work since the years after World War II, according to the lawmakers.
However, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, one of the key players in arranging a post-Kan government structure, said over the weekend on TV programs and to reporters that it is important to secure a promise from the opposition camp on the budget-related bill's passage by the premier's resignation.
The bill's passage is needed to secure about 40 percent of the revenue planned in the 92.41 trillion yen budget for the year that started in April.
Kan survived a no-confidence motion earlier this month by promising to leave office in the near future after certain progress is made in containing a nuclear crisis and rebuilding the disaster-stricken northeastern region.
The premier, however, has left the exact timing of his resignation vague.
Sengoku has suggested Kan needs to step down this month and that the next budget should be drawn up by the incoming prime minister while also cooperating with the Liberal Democratic Party and other smaller opposition parties, which control the upper house of parliament.
Sengoku hinted at the possibility of Kan referring to his readiness to resign soon at a meeting of all parliamentarians from his DPJ, which may be held on Friday.
Among DPJ senior lawmakers, Sengoku is known as an advocate of forming a coalition government between the DPJ and LDP to overcome the current difficulties facing Japan.
But the LDP has so far remained reluctant about forming a grand coalition with the DPJ even after Kan is unseated.
Within the DPJ, the idea of establishing a framework in which executives of both ruling and opposition parties can get together to discuss post-disaster measures is now more dominant, the lawmakers said.
