Japan PM quits before election

JAPAN: Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said on Wednesday he and his powerful party No. 2 would resign after a slide in the polls threatened their party’s chances in an election expected next month.

The yen sank to a two-week low against the dollar after Hatoyama became the fourth Japanese leader to leave office in a year or less, with some investors worried that political instability would make Japan’s weak economy more dependent on the Bank of Japan’s easy monetary policy.

Calls built up in Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) for him to step down to revive the party’s fortunes ahead of an election for the upper house of parliament expected on July 11 that it must win to smooth policymaking.

With tears in his eyes, Hatoyama told party lawmakers that he and party secretary-general Ichiro Ozawa would resign.

“In order to revitalise our party, we need to bring back a thoroughly clean Democratic Party. I would like to ask your cooperation,” Hatoyama said.

Hatoyama’s ratings slid on voter doubts about his leadership, while the old-style image of Ozawa, seen as pulling strings behind the scene, had also eroded public support.

Analysts have tipped outspoken Finance Minister Naoto Kan as the frontrunner to replace Hatoyama, who quits after just eight months on the job. TOKYO, Wednesday, Reuters