Uno Quitting After Party Loss at Polls : Japan Liberal Democrats Humiliated in Election; Leader Accepts Blame

Prime Minister Sosuke Uno today announced his intention to resign after his ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered a humiliating defeat Sunday in an election for the upper house of Parliament.

In a nationally televised news conference, Uno blamed the party’s defeat--its first in a national election since it was formed in 1955--on a revolt by housewives, farmers and shopkeepers in response to an influence-buying scandal, the imposition of a 3% consumption tax and moves to open Japan’s agricultural market to imports.

“That the campaign ended with no policy debate on these issues was regrettable. But the people’s judgment has been given,” Uno said.

“All of the responsibility belongs to me, and to make that responsibility clear, I have resolved to resign.”

Asked About His Affairs

Asked if he thought reports that surfaced two days after he took office June 2 about his money-for-sex affairs affected the outcome, Uno responded, “I said I ‘assume all responsibility.’

“I did everything I could,” he said of the election. “But with this kind of defeat, it is only natural to assume responsibility. I feel completely serene.”

From a 17-seat majority in the last election three years ago, the conservatives plummeted to at least 16 seats shy of a majority in the 252-member House of Councillors, or upper house, of Parliament.

Socialists, meanwhile, increased their holdings by at least 24 seats in the upper house, where all bills except the budget and treaties must be approved. Half the seats were at stake.

With 5 of the 126 races yet to be determined, Socialists had outstripped the Liberal Democrats 45 to 36.

Only one more Liberal Democrat still had a chance to win. The disastrous showing means that they have lost control of the upper house for at least the next six years.

To win a majority in the next election in 1992, the party would have to elect nearly 90 candidates--but its best showing ever came three years ago, when it won 73 seats of the 126 at stake.

Including incumbents not up for reelection, the Liberal Democrats this time had nailed down 109 seats. In addition, two conservatives who won without endorsement were expected to join the party. All opposition forces, however, had 135 seats, or 8 more than needed for a simple majority of 127.

64 Seats for Socialists

The Socialists’ winners and carryovers added up to 65 seats.

A new pan-opposition alliance organized by the labor federation, Rengo (Japan Private Sector Trade Union Confederation), elected 11 of its 12 candidates and enlisted one carryover into its ranks. The new group, analysts said, could form the core of an opposition-led coalition should the Liberal Democrats lose their majority in a future election for the lower house, which elects the prime minister.

The results were so overwhelming that only three hours after 65% of Japan’s 90.3 million voters finished casting ballots, NHK, the semi-official radio and TV network, declared the conservatives defeated.

Although he waited until this morning, Uno himself announced his intention to step down before the vote counting was finished. He urged the Liberal Democrats to act as quickly as possible to pick a successor as party president, who would then be elected by the lower house of Parliament as prime minister if the past pattern is followed. The process could take weeks.

Party Officials Told

Uno said he made up his mind to quit Sunday night and informed party officials of his decision this morning.

The move came after three ruling party leaders, including former Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, called for Uno’s resignation. Suzuki said the election debacle created “the greatest party crisis since its founding.”

Socialist Chairwoman Takako Doi said the ruling party should turn over the government to a Socialist-led “election-management cabinet,” which would dissolve the lower house and call a general election. Other opposition parties also called for an immediate election for the lower house. Its term expires next July.

In losing its 34-year-long stranglehold on legislation, the ruling party will be forced seek a coalition with middle-of-the-road opposition parties or to negotiate every bill except the budget and treaties with the opposition parties.

Party in Disarray

The defeat and Uno’s resignation also ensured that the ruling party will remain in disarray with no effective leadership for an indeterminate period. By the party’s own ruling, all of its first echelon leaders who were tainted in the influence-buying scandal are barred from holding party posts until next May or after a general election.

Pointing to a 5% real growth expected in this year’s GNP, business leaders expressed confidence that the economy would suffer no immediate setback.

The Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market opened today with the yen declining to 143.25 yen to the dollar, 1.10 point below Friday’s close. The Tokyo Stock Market, however, climbed slightly by 83.47 points to 33,982.90 by midday.

Some analysts predicted that voters would adopt a more conservative attitude in any lower house election, where leadership of the government will be at stake.

Against, Not For

One TV poll of voters coming out of ballot booths Sunday found that two-thirds of those who cast ballots for opposition candidates were voting against the Liberal Democrats, rather than in favor of the opposition.

“We were done in,” Ryutaro Hashimoto, the Liberal Democrats’ secretary general, conceded.

Hashimoto refused to single out any one issue as the cause of the landslide defeat. But underlying the debacle, he said, was “the voters’ distrust in politics.”

The distrust, pollsters said, stemmed from broken promises to both consumers and farmers as well as voters’ repulsion against the influence-buying scandal. Assuming responsibility for that scandal, Takeshita resigned only to see Uno, his hand-picked successor, embroiled in money-for-sex charges, on which Uno refused to comment directly.

In the 1986 election, the Liberal Democrats promised to keep Japan’s agricultural markets closed to imports and told consumers and shopkeepers they would not implement any large-scale indirect tax. But the party last year bowed to American demands and agreed to lift quotas on beef and citrus fruit imports by April 1, 1991, and then unilaterally rammed the consumption tax through Parliament last December. It was implemented April 1.

Farm Revolt a Key

The farm revolt handed to the opposition all five of the rice-rich prefectures (states) in Tohoku (Northeast Japan) and all four prefectures on the island of Shikoku, a major mandarin orange-growing region. Three prefectures on the island of Kyushu, where cattle farmers are prominent, went to the Socialists.

“Although we explained our agricultural policies, the farmers wouldn’t listen to us because of their distrust in politics,” Hashimoto said.

“Voters realized that if Liberal Democrat politics continued (without protest), their lives would be affected,” said Doi, who made a promise to abolish the unpopular 3% consumption the centerpiece of her Socialist protest campaign.

Doi said her party will submit a bill to abolish the consumption tax and will fight farm imports, as it promised during the 18-day campaign.

Liberal Democrat candidates lost their seats in the only two districts in which Uno campaigned, including Shiga, Uno’s own home prefecture and a traditional conservative stronghold.