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Japan's embattled PM Aso names two new ministers

AFP - Thursday, July 2

TOKYO (AFP) - - Japan's embattled Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday named two new cabinet ministers as he explores ways to improve his sagging popularity ahead of elections which he must call by September.

Yoshimasa Hayashi was named as the new state minister for economic and fiscal policy, while lawmaker Motoo Hayashi was appointed to several new posts, including chairman of the National Public Safety Commission.

Aso made the cabinet changes ahead of elections he may call as early as next month, when his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could lose its grip on power that has been broken only once in more than half a century.

Opinion polls show voter support for Aso's government has fallen below 20 percent, and several LDP heavyweights have openly called for the premier to step down as the party's leader to give it a fighting chance at the polls.

The Sankei daily likened the party's turmoil to "a state of civil war."

Aso said he would stay at the helm of the LDP as it heads to the polls.

He said the ministerial changes were made just after the cabinet passed the hurdle of setting ministries' budget ceilings for next year, and that they aimed to ease pressure on other ministers who were holding multiple portfolios.

"We concluded the major decisions of this cabinet today... and I thought it was a good time to add more people since we have ministers who are concurrently serving multiple posts," Aso told reporters.

Asked whether he thought the appointments would improve his public support, Aso said: "I don't decide approval ratings."

Aso chose Masayoshi Hayashi as the new state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, relieving Kaoru Yosano, who keeps his two other posts as finance minister and financial services chief.

Masayoshi Hayashi, 48, last year served as defence minister for the final two months of the cabinet under former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, Aso's predecessor.

The son of a former finance minister, he once worked as an assistant for US lawmakers in Washington before he was elected to Japan's parliament in 1995.

"The economic situation is extremely difficult, just as the political situation is," said the Harvard-educated former businessman.

The other new face in the cabinet, Motoo Hayashi, eases the responsibilities of Tsutomu Sato, the internal affairs and communications minister.

The newcomer also takes over his duties as minister for disaster management, decentralization reform and Okinawa and Northern Territory affairs.

Contrary to earlier media speculation, Aso did not give a cabinet post to a popular former comedian-turned-prefectural governor and did not change the top personnel of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

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