Miyazawa Set to Clinch Japanese Premier’s Post

Kiichi Miyazawa, 72, a policy expert and veteran of 49 years in government and politics, is expected to win assurance today that he will succeed Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, who has announced that he will not seek another term.

The largest faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party--105 followers of former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita--scheduled a meeting for this afternoon at which it is expected to formalize its backing for Miyazawa. The move is expected to spur two other groups to jump on the bandwagon.

On Wednesday, Mutsuki Kato, the Liberal Democrats’ policy board chairman, stunned one of Miyazawa’s rivals--Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, 64, a former foreign minister--by announcing that he will join the Takeshita faction in supporting its choice for party president, a post that carries with it the premiership. Kato is a leader of Mitsuzuka’s faction, and his action is expected to split the party’s second-largest faction.

Toshio Komoto, the leader of the smallest faction to which Kaifu belongs, confirmed that his followers, too, would go along with the Takeshita faction’s decision.

The Takeshita, Miyazawa, and Komoto factions together control 218 of the votes to be cast, if an election to select a new party president is held. Although 249 votes are required for a majority, Miyazawa is expected to win enough support--from Kato’s backers in Parliament and electors chosen by the party’s rank and file--to push him over the top.

The Takeshita faction’s impending decision comes after seven days of trying to persuade one of its rising stars, Ichiro Ozawa, 49, to run. But Ozawa, who served under Kaifu as secretary general of the ruling party until last April, cited recent heart trouble and a lack of preparedness and has declined.

Before today’s moves, both Mitsuzuka and a third candidate, Michio Watanabe, 68, had declared they would remain in the race to force an election. If two or more candidates register Oct. 19, a party election will be held Oct. 27 to select a new president, who would take over when Kaifu’s term ends Oct. 30.

Miyazawa, leader of the party’s third-largest faction, entered the prestigious Finance Ministry in 1942 and served as a liaison officer with U.S. officials during Japan’s 1945-52 postwar occupation. Hayato Ikeda, the late prime minister, chose him as his private secretary and helped launch Miyazawa’s political career in 1953.

Elected in 1953 to the upper house of Parliament and in 1967 to the powerful lower house, Miyazawa served in a host of party and Cabinet posts, including minister of international trade and industry, foreign minister, finance minister, chief Cabinet secretary and director of the Economic Planning Agency.

Fluent in English, Miyazawa is the only leader of the ruling party capable of conducting negotiations in English. He is widely known among ruling circles around the globe.