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Japan opposition leader Maehara to step down+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 31_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: COMBINING STORIES HEADLINED 'JAPAN OPPOSITION LEADER MAEHARA TO STEP DOWN,' 'NAGATA TELLS DPJ OFFICIAL TO RESIGN AS LAWMAKER,' ADDING INFO) The president of Japan's main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, Seiji Maehara, expressed his intention at a meeting of party executives Friday to step down to take responsibility over false accusations a member lawmaker made alleging a questionable money transfer involving a senior ruling party legislator. The DPJ decided the same day to choose a new leader on April 7. Ichiro Ozawa, former vice president, and Naoto Kan, two-time former party leader, have been cited as possible successors to Maehara. "It was necessary for me to make a political decision over the e-mail fiasco. I bear the heaviest political responsibility," Maehara told the executives' meeting in explaining reasons for his resignation. The fiasco over the false charges made by House of Representatives member Hisayasu Nagata, who has been suspended from the DPJ, has dealt a major blow to the largest opposition party. The fallout from the scandal has already claimed Yoshihiko Noda, who resigned as the party's Diet affairs chief. On Friday, along with Maehara, Yukio Hatoyama, the party's secretary general, also decided to quit, a senior party official said. Also Nagata told a DPJ official that he intends to resign as lawmaker, and he submitted a letter of resignation to lower house Speaker Yohei Kono later Friday. Based on a purported e-mail message he got from a journalist, Nagata claimed at a lower house panel Feb. 16 that Takafumi Horie, founder of Livedoor Co., a firm at the center of a major account-rigging scandal, ordered payment of consultation fees to the younger son of Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe last year. Another senior DPJ official said earlier Friday the journalist, Takashi Nishizwa, has admitted to having provided a faked e-mail message to Nagata. According to party sources, Maehara said earlier in the day he "is not at all hesitant to quit" but expressed concern about possible disruption his resignation might create within the party, which has seen a series of leadership changes in the past few years. Following the Feb. 16 allegations Nagata made, Maehara said on various occasions that the e-mail was strongly credible and said in a parliamentary debate with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that he "has obtained solid evidence of the fund provision" described in the e-mail. But the DPJ later withdrew the allegations and officially acknowledged the e-mail was faked, issuing a public apology to the LDP and concerned people including Takebe's son. Within the DPJ, sentiment for Maehara to take responsibility for his actions had been growing. At the relatively young age for a Japanese lawmaker of 43, Maehara took the leadership of the DPJ just in September, beating Kan in an election by a thin two-vote margin, after Katsuya Okada took responsibility for the loss the DPJ suffered in the Sept. 11 general election. Maehara's three predecessors -- Hatoyama, Kan and Okada -- all resigned as DPJ president without fulfilling their terms. The new leader to be elected next week will complete Maehara's remaining term through September this year when the party's presidential election will be held. In late February, Nagata reportedly expressed intent to resign as a lawmaker, but the DPJ leadership deferred a decision. The leadership at that time simply decided to give Nagata rest, saying he was not in a state where he could make judgments calmly. Before Friday's executives' meeting, Hatoyama urged Nagata in a meeting to give up his Diet seat voluntarily, but Nagata showed reluctance, the sources said. Hatoyama also told Nagata that he would be expelled from the party if he refuses to resign, they said. Nagata, a bureaucrat-turned lawmaker, had his party membership suspended by the DPJ after he made the allegations. Nagata, 36, was first elected to the lower house in 2000 and is in his third term as a lower house member. He gained a seat in the southern Kanto proportional representation constituency. |