Japan’s Hata Resigns as Premier

Facing a no-confidence motion he admitted he could not defeat, Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata resigned today and said he would “entrust my future” to Parliament.

Hata, elected prime minister only eight weeks ago, said he is stepping down to avoid a general election that he said would have thwarted political reforms enacted last March after a five-year struggle.

Choosing a prime minister in the lower house also would enable Japan to send a leader not threatened by an ouster to the annual Group of Seven economic summit in Naples, Italy, July 8-10, he noted in a televised news conference.

Hata’s dramatic decision was made less than an hour before a plenary session of the lower house was scheduled to vote on a no-confidence motion submitted Thursday by the Liberal Democratic Party.

If he had lost the vote, Hata would have had to dissolve the lower house and call snap elections.

“Japan cannot afford a monthlong hiatus in politics” that such a series of events would have caused, he said.

When the balloting for a new prime minister would occur was not immediately known.

Hata’s declaration that he would “entrust my future” to Parliament meant he was not ruling out running as a candidate again.

But his chances of reelection appeared uncertain. With no party holding a majority, another coalition will be needed to form a government.

Hata, who led Japan’s first minority administration in decades, said he would bow to the Parliament’s decisions in naming a new government.

“Our most urgent task is to form a stable government,” Hata said. “I want to avoid a political vacuum by every means.”

Last year, former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa was forced to host the Group of Seven economic summit in Tokyo in the middle of a campaign for a general election that he called after the lower house passed a no-confidence motion against him.

Hata, along with Ichiro Ozawa, his chief strategist--both of whom bolted the Liberal Democrats to appeal for political reform--led the rebellion against Miyazawa. A subsequent election in July sealed the end of the Liberal Democrats’ 38-year rule.

Just two days ago, Hata said he was willing to resign--but at that time, he made the offer on the assumption that the Socialist Party, which bolted his coalition April 26, would support him for reelection. On Friday, the Socialists withdrew that assurance, precipitating consultations and bargaining that continued until early today.

Wataru Kubo, the Socialists’ secretary general, informed Ozawa on Friday afternoon that his party would not again support Hata, reneging on more than a month of declarations that Hata’s “voluntary” resignation would provide a face-saving prerequisite for the party’s return to the coalition.

Ozawa immediately withdrew the offer of Hata’s resignation and went to the prime minister’s office. Nearly 10 1/2 hours later--at 3:30 a.m. today--Ozawa emerged, saying only that consultations with the Socialists “are not over yet.” He refused to elaborate.

The marathon talks suggested that Ozawa opposed Hata’s decision to step down.

After Hata announced his resignation less than eight hours later, Socialist Chairman Tomiichi Murayama told a news conference that his party “at the moment, is not thinking of a Socialist-Liberal Democrat coalition.”

Instead, he said consultations with Hata’s coalition parties should be continued and expanded to include the splinter New Party Harbinger of Masayoshi Takemura, who served as chief Cabinet secretary in the coalition government until the departure of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in April. Although the New Party Harbinger voted for Hata as prime minister, it refused to join his Cabinet.

Murayama noted that the current session of Parliament is scheduled to end Wednesday. If negotiations on a new coalition cannot be completed by then, he said, his party would support extending the session for a short period to permit election of a prime minister.

The Socialist leader agreed with Hata that a stable government with majority support is needed to cope with a host of issues facing the nation. A Socialist return to the coalition, by itself, would give the ruling group a razor-thin majority of only one seat in the lower house.

The Socialists’ departure from the Cabinet in April left the coalition with only 37% of the seats in the lower house. Only the necessity to enact Japan’s 1994 budget--which passed the upper house Thursday--forestalled a challenge to Hata at that time.

Murayama’s specific reference to the New Party Harbinger suggested that the Socialists might back Takemura as Hata’s successor. But he did not rule out backing Hata.

Liberal Democrats on Friday suggested that they would be willing to support Murayama as prime minister, with their own leader, Yohei Kono, as vice premier in a coalition between the two parties that have been at each other’s throats since 1955, when both came into existence.

Whether the offer was sincere or merely an attempt to thwart the Socialists’ reunion with the coalition was unclear. No Socialist has been touted as a prime minister since 1947.

Over the years, the party gradually has shed its Marxist ideology and advocacy of a socialist economy.

But it still maintains friendly relations with Communist North Korea, advocates strong government subsidies for welfare and favors reducing defense spending.

Its opposition to an opening of Japan’s rice market and its refusal to support an increase in a 3% consumption tax plagued Hosokawa during his eight months in office.

Both the Socialists and the Liberal Democrats have condemned what they call “arbitrary, high-handed” decision-making by Ozawa. But they are united on few, if any, other policies.

Takemura is an archenemy of Ozawa, Hata’s strategist. While Ozawa supports Japan playing a larger role in international politics and U.N. peacekeeping efforts, Takemura advocates Japan assuming the posture of a “small country that sparkles,” shying away from both overseas military activities and a global leadership role