Japanese PM hopes finance minister to stay in post
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Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday voiced hope that Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii would stay in his Cabinet, despite the 77-year-old minister's poor health, while another minister in the Cabinet said he won't take up the post even if Fujii resigns.
Administrative Reform Minister Yoshito Sengoku said Wednesday that it is very unlikely he will take over as finance minister in the event that Hirohisa Fujii resigns.
"There is a 99.99 percent chance that I will not succeed him," Sengoku said, according to reports from Kyodo News Agency.
On Tuesday, Fujii hinted that he may resign due to health issues. The 77-year-old was admitted to hospital in late December complaining of exhaustion. "It's about time the matter came to a conclusion," Fujii said on Tuesday, referring to his ill health and ability to continue to lead the finance ministry.
Hatoyama said Wednesday that he hopes Fujii stays in the cabinet. "Of course I hope he will nurture" the budget proposal for fiscal 2010 put forward by the cabinet in December, Hatoyama said.
Fujii's possible resignation could cause problems for the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which won an election in August in a landslide. Last summer, the DPJ won 308 seats in the lower house pf parliament, giving it a majority, but also meaning that there are very few experienced lawmakers for senior positions.
Front runners to succeed Fujii, if he does step down, include Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Senior Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, along with Sengoku.
Hatoyama has admitted that there is a chance Fujii will step down. "It is about (Fujii's) health," the prime minister said. "To a certain degree, I must take into account assessments from his doctors."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said that Hatoyama will make a decision on the future of Fujii after medical results come back from the doctors. "If he is sufficiently well, we will have him stay on," Hirano said. "But if the doctors say he could not possibly stay on, the prime minister will make a final decision."
With the next session of parliament starting in Japan on Jan. 18, it will be essential for the DPJ to have decided on what to do by then, with wrangling over the next budget expected to dominate in the coming months.
Fujii was key to the DPJ announcement in late December of a 92. 3 trillion yen (1 trillion dollar) budget, which the government had struggled to write amid deflation and a weak economy. In his job, Fujii was charged last year with trying to balance the troubled economy with DPJ campaign pledges to eliminate wasteful spending on huge public works projects and launch schemes that will benefit the average Japanese.
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