Maehara stumped about DPJ's presidential election

TOKYO, Aug. 18 Kyodo -
Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara is still undecided about whether to run in the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election to select Prime Minister Naoto Kan's successor, Maehara's allies said Thursday.
''I am stumped on what kind of role I should play,'' a DPJ lawmaker who has close ties with Maehara quoted him as saying during a meeting with his ruling party allies.
Maehara, who has received relatively high support compared to other candidates in public opinion polls on Japan's next leader, exchanged views over his stance on the election with DPJ lawmakers who belong to his faction.
The lawmakers said Maehara will decide whether to run in the election in the not-too-distant future.
Maehara's supporters are divided over whether he should be a contender in the upcoming election. Some of them have said that he should not challenge for the top post until the DPJ's regular presidential election slated for September next year.
Possible DPJ lawmakers to run in the election include Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, farm minister Michihiko Kano and former transport minister Sumio Mabuchi.
Noda held talks Wednesday night with Maehara and asked for his intraparty group's support in the election, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Noda is known as a proponent of raising taxes to help the country's tattered public finances and generate funds for the rebuilding of areas ravaged by the March earthquake and tsunami.
But Maehara is not in favor of immediate tax increases.
On Thursday, former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who still leads a major intraparty group, also said that he has no plans to back a candidate in the election who is willing to raise taxes and form a grand coalition government with major opposition parties.
The DPJ leadership is exploring the possibility of holding the election in late August.