Tokyo: Prime minister Naoto Kan has resigned as Japan’s ruling party leader, almost three months after he first flagged the move.
His resignation sets the stage for Japan to pick its sixth prime minister in five years as it tries to rebuild from a massive earthquake and tsunami, forge a new energy policy after a nuclear crisis, and curb huge public debt.
As many as seven ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) politicians are jostling to replace Mr Kan in a leadership vote set for August 29.
They include former foreign minister Seiji Maehara – a security hawk – and finance minister Yoshihiko Noda, a fiscal conservative.
The winner will become prime minister by virtue of the party’s majority in parliament’s lower house.
Successive governments have struggled to address deep policy problems in the face of a divided Parliament and rifts inside the ruling party.
Mr Kan’s approval ratings fell below 20 per cent due to policy inconsistencies and dissatisfaction with his handling of the radiation crisis at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima power plant.
His defenders say the former civic activist also ran into trouble due to his call to wean Japan from nuclear power – a stance popular with the public but opposed by many senior politicians.
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