Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan looked likely to finally step down this month after parliament made headway on key legislation on Wednesday, setting the stage for Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years.
Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a low-key fiscal conservative, is a key contender to succeed Kan.
But sceptics question whether any new leader will fare much better than his five predecessors, none of whom lasted long in office and who all struggled to implement policies to end two decades of economic stagnation and fix the deep structural problems of a fast-ageing society.
Japanese media said Kan’s Democratic Party was planning to vote on a new leader as early as Aug. 28, although a party source said the schedule could slip a bit if it took longer to enact pending legislation, including a bill allowing the government to issue more bonds to pay for this year’s budget.
A lower house panel on Wednesday approved that bill, passage of which Kan has said was a prerequisite for his resignation.
“No one knows what he will do, but the conditions for Kan’s resignation are firming up,” said Mikitaka Masuyama at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
