Mori bows out admitting blunders

Yoshiro Mori's ratings hit rock bottom

The Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori, has made an official farewell address, admitting that he lost public trust through a series of scandals.

As hopeful successors within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party continued to battle for the top post, the gaffe-prone premier said he would step down next Tuesday.

There were several scandals and I am aware of the criticism caused by my remarks

Yoshiro Mori

"I decided to resign because I felt we need to start over with fresh members in order to regain people's trust," Mr Mori, one of Japan's most unpopular premiers, told a televised news conference.

Mr Mori has been under fire for months over a string of verbal gaffes and blunders, along with an economic slowdown, with his public support ratings plunging to below 10%.

Three of his cabinet ministers have been forced to resign because of scandals, including one close aide over an alleged affair involving a mistress.

Contest enlivened

The BBC's William Horsley says that all too often, the contest for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party is a dull affair involving colourless politicians, in which the result is a foregone conclusion because of secret backroom deals among the chiefs of various party factions.

Former Prime Minister Hashimoto was thought to be a frontrunner

But the prospect of a defeat in forthcoming Upper House elections in July seems to have galvanised the party, which will choose its next party leader and prime minister on 24 April.

The contest has been enlivened by a strong challenge from Junichiro Koizumi, a relatively unknown figure, whose popular support surged after he announced radical plans for solving Japan's long-standing economic troubles.

Economic concerns

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who leads the largest party faction, was thought to be the front-runner among the four candidates.

But his record of presiding over two years of economic stagnation up to 1988 is counting against him.

The Tokyo stock market: Still in the doldrums

And Mr Koizumi, who started as an outsider, has seen his chances grow as it has become clear that he is the preferred choice of Japan's financial community, and of the party rank and file.

Mr Koizumi says he would boldly tackle Japan's deep-seated economic ills by forcing businesses with excessive bad debts to close, privatising Japan's huge state-managed postal savings system and enacting a big deregulation programme.

Many commentators say this offers the best chance yet for Japan to get out of its long downward spiral.

Under party rules the votes of nearly 2.5 million party members count for less than those of the LDP's 346 members of parliament.

But Mr Koizumi the maverick has worked up a momentum which could just give him victory, unless an old-style pact among Hashimoto supporters succeeds before next week's vote in securing a majority for the candidate of the party's old guard.