TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's main opposition party scrambled Monday to try to dissuade its leader from stepping down over a disagreement about whether to accept a power-sharing proposal from the prime minister.
Veteran conservative Ichiro Ozawa surprised the country Sunday by announcing his intention to resign, plunging Japanese politics deeper into confusion and raising fears of prolonged policy deadlock.
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) held a crisis executive board meeting to discuss Ozawa's decision, which came just months after a major election victory that saw it take control of one house of parliament.
"In the unanimous view of the executives, we would like representative Ozawa to stay on," DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama told reporters following the meeting, which was held at the headquarters in the absence of Ozawa.
It was unclear whether Ozawa would accept the request. There is speculation that the 65-year-old -- who has switched allegiances repeatedly over the past decade -- could even defect to the ruling camp.
Ozawa said Sunday that the decision by DPJ executives to reject the offer of a grand coalition, which he had agreed to consider, amounted to a "vote of no confidence" in his leadership. But he denied that he would leave the party.
DPJ officials said that the decision to ask Ozawa to stay on did not mean that the party would support a power-sharing deal, and admitted that it could be difficult to convince Ozawa to remain in his post.
But Hatoyama said the party would "try to do its best" to keep Ozawa, adding that the veteran power-broker had shown signs at a meeting with acting DPJ president Naoto Kan that he might reconsider his decision.
"I don't necessarily cling to a coalition. It is important to form a system to win elections," Ozawa was quoted as telling Kan.
The party's decision to try to persuade Ozawa to stay was the latest twist in a saga that began on Friday with a closed-door meeting between the leaders of Japan's two main political parties.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda proposed a coalition in a bid to break the legislative stalemate over Japan's refuelling support mission for US-led operations in Afghanistan.
The mission, Japan's main role in the US-led "war on terror," was halted last week after legislation authorising it expired.
Ozawa agreed to consider the proposal, which he took back to the DPJ executives, but they swiftly rejected the idea.
Ozawa himself admitted Sunday that the DPJ "still lacks sufficient capabilities in many aspects" and could achieve more by joining a coalition.
His decision to step down startled even Fukuda.
"I was surprised. I was just surprised," the prime minister told reporters.
The government urged the opposition to reconsider its decision to reject a coalition, warning of a "crisis" in Japanese politics.
"I wish the two leaders' desire (to form a coalition) could have borne fruit, otherwise Japan will be plunged into a critical situation in which we cannot make any decisions," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura.
"I hope many DPJ people will share this sense of crisis," said Machimura, the government's top spokesman.
But Fukuda appeared cautious about prospects for a coalition in light of Ozawa's planned resignation.
"The talks that we have had so far have come to an end for now," he said.
Weekend surveys showed that most Japanese oppose the idea of a grand coalition.
Some 53 percent support the DPJ's rejection of the proposal, compared with 29 percent who do not, according to a telephone poll of 2,088 voters published in the Asahi newspaper.
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