FinancialAdvisor's College Class (FACC)

[FinancialAdvisor]

Maverick governor forms new Japan party

Maverick governor forms new Japan party
By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo
Published: August 22 2005 03:00 / Last updated: August 22 2005 03:00

Japan's political realignment took another turn yesterday as three Liberal Democratic party members opposing postal privatisation formed a new party under the leadership of a popular, reformist politician.

Yasuo Tanaka, the maverick governor of Nagano, said yesterday he would head Nippon, the second political party to be formed following dissolution of the lower house of the Diet two weeks ago.

For a public already baffled by the unusual new candidates signed up by the ruling LDP to replace its rebels - including an internet entrepreneur and a popular housewife who is Japan's answer to Martha Stewart - the decision by Mr Tanaka, known for his campaign against expensive public works, adds confusion to the election contest.

Takao Toshikawa, a political commentator and editor-in-chief of Inside Line, a newsletter, noted that Ichiro Ozawa, who once headed the now defunct Liberal party and is currently a vice-president of the Democratic Party of Japan, was behind the formation of the new party.

"Mr Ozawa wants to be a kingmaker. This is not possible within the DPJ, but if Mr Ozawa can control a third political force [he believes he can wield influence]," said Mr Toshikawa yesterday.

Mr Tanaka, a former novelist close to Mr Ozawa, has been a symbol of local government reform.

While Mr Tanaka said he would remain governor of Nagano and did not intend to run for national office in the election, Mr Toshikawa said the emergence of Nippon could lead to more interesting development than the formation of the first new party by anti-privatisation politicians, Kokumin Shinto, last week.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that it will gain the casting vote," Mr Toshikawa said.

Although the new party only has four members so far, a fifth is expected to join shortly and the party is aiming to sign up the 30 LDP rebels in the upper house, whose rejection of the postal bill led to the coming elections.

With a boosted membership, coupled with Mr Tanaka's popularity, Nippon could determine who became the next LDP leader if the ruling coalition failed to win a majority of seats in the election, Mr Toshikawa said.

* Japan's opposition Democratic party has fudged the central issue of postal privatisation and presented contradictory electoral pledges, according to Heizo Takenaka, the most influential member of the cabinet of Junichiro Koizumi, prime minister, writes David Pilling in Tokyo.

In an interview with the FT, Mr Takenaka attacked the DPJ, denigrating its reform credentials and suggesting it was unfit for government.

Mr Takenaka said the parties had drawn clear ideological battle lines.

"The electorate has to choose between big and small government," he said, referring partly to the role of postal savings in subsidising state expenditure and its 270,000 workers.

Once Japan's population began to shrink from 2007, it would be impossible to maintain the status quo without placing a huge burden on taxpayers, he said, accusing the DPJ of being consistently on the wrong side of the debate.

Mr Takenaka said the DPJ's proposal of keeping the post office in public hands but shrinking its pool of savings was ill-conceived.


LINK: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b3a3b8a4-12a8-11da-8cc3-00000e2511c8.html