After less than a year in the country's top office, a tearful Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has announced he would resign, along with his ruling party's No.2 -- Ichiro Ozawa.
"I too will be resigning from my current position, but so also will Party Secretary General Ozawa, who is commonly known to have been in the midst of the debate over political funding laws."
Pressure has been mounting on Hatoyama to stand down to boost its party's chances of winning an election next month, as support for his cabinet slipped to just 17%. A funding scandal involving Ozawa was seen as one of the main reasons for his party's waning support.
"In order to put the Democratic Party back together, let's make the democratic party clean once more. I ask you all for your help."
Outspoken Finance Minister Naoto Kan is widely tipped as Hatoyama's likely successor with the decision expected in days. Kan has in the past pressed the Bank of Japan to do more to fight deflation, also sounding more willing than Hatoyama to raise a 5% sales tax to fund bulging social welfare costs, a move that will be welcomed by investors, but likely not by the electorate. The Democrat swept to power in August last year, ousting the conservative Liberal Democratic Party which enjoyed more than 50 years of almost nonstop rule. But doubts over Hatoyama's leadership skills have hurt approval ratings which fell further after he failed to keep a campaign pledge to move a US air base off the southern Island of Okinawa.
Kirsty Basset, Reuters.
