Japan's justice minister resigned on Monday in a bid to avoid a row over a gaffe delaying the enactment of an extra budget, but hurdles remain for Prime Minister Naoto Kan as he struggles with a divided parliament.
The 4.4 trln yen ($52.7 bln) extra budget will pass by mid-December at the latest, given the ruling Democratic Party's majority in the lower house, but the Democrats had hoped to complete parliamentary passage earlier to bolster the economy.
Opposition parties had threatened to stall debate after remarks by the justice minister, Minoru Yanagida, that critics said made light of deliberations in parliament.
Analysts said Yanagida's resignation was unlikely to be a game-changer for Kan's government, but the affair is hardly a plus for an administration whose voter ratings are already sagging below 30%.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), aiming to make the most of Kan's latest headache, rejected the Democrats' request for the upper house to vote on the extra budget on Wednesday, Kyodo news agency reported.
"We can't be optimistic … The fundamental issues have not been resolved and talks between the ruling and opposition parties are not working," said Tomoaki Iwai, a political science professor at Nihon University.
Support for the Kan's five-month-old government has already been eroded by voter discontent with his handling of territorial rows with China and Russia and a funding scandal dogging a ruling party powerbroker. [ID:nTOE6AE08N].
A survey by the Mainichi newspaper released on Monday showed support for Kan's government at 26%, down 23 points from the previous poll in October.
The same poll also showed the gap in support for his Democratic Party and the LDP had narrowed, with 20% supporting the Democrats and 18% backing the LDP.
CENSURE MOTION
Although delaying the budget process risks public ire for the opposition, Kan's weak support has made it difficult for rivals to cooperate with him on policy.
The LDP, which had threatened to submit a non-binding but embarrassing censure motion against the justice minister, is now considering submitting censure motions against the chief cabinet secretary and the transport minister, Kyodo reported, citing a party official.
"Kan's cabinet members, not just Yanagida, don't understand the seriousness of what they say," LDP secretary-general Nobuteru Ishihara told reporters.
"Yanagida says he resigned to allow the enactment of the extra budget. But that's totally wrong. I want to say, 'You were a different kind of problem'."
The extra budget for the year to next March will pass because budget bills, even if rejected by the opposition-controlled upper house, become law within 30 days of approval by the more powerful lower house, which approved it last Tuesday.
The measure aims to give the economy a boost as the impact from previous stimulus fades and a rising yen threatens corporate earnings. It expands the safety net for job seekers and subsidies on energy-efficient goods, and increases tax grants to local governments.
It is unclear if the LDP and other opposition parties would go so far as to block bills needed to implement the budget for 2011/12, which starts next April 1. Such a move could force Kan to call a snap election.
"The LDP could very well hold the 2011/12 budget hostage and make demands, but what will it ask for?" said Hiroshi Hirano, a political science professor at Tokyo's Gakushuin University.
"Not everyone in the LDP is confident that the party can win if an election is held so soon."
Kan's Democratic Party swept to power last year on a wave of voter discontent with the conservative LDP, which had ruled Japan almost non-stop for more than 50 years.
The Democrats promised change, but Kan's predecessor quit in June after fumbling over diplomacy and scandals, dealing the Democrats a stinging defeat in a July upper house poll, handing control of the chamber to the opposition.
