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Updated Wednesday, June 29, 2011 12:44 am TWN, By Shinichi Saoshiro, Reuters

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Energy policy biggest focus in next election: Japan PM

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Tuesday energy policy will be the biggest focal point at the next election, but indicated he was not in a rush to call a snap poll.

A lower house election is not scheduled until 2013 but analysts have speculated that Kan, under mounting pressure to keep a pledge to quit, could call a snap poll to end the political impasse in a divided parliament with the promise of ending Japan's reliance on nuclear power.

Kan, Japan's fifth premier in as many years, said he was confident that his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) could win public understanding in the two years before the next general election, suggesting he was not committed to calling a vote any time soon.

“Energy policy and what direction to take on this issue will likely be the biggest point of debate in the next national election,” Kan told a meeting of DPJ lawmakers, where he came under fire from irate members of his party.

The party's No. 2 official also said that it was not the best time for a snap vote, as the country tries to rebuild from the massive earthquake and tsunami in March. “We don't have time for a snap election given what we need to do for all the people who have suffered from the disasters,” party secretary-general Katsuya Okada told the same meeting.

Some lawmakers within Kan's party voiced discontent with the unpopular premier's performance.

“I can't ask questions to a prime minister who is on his way out,” DPJ lawmaker Chobin Zukeran said at the lawmakers' meeting. “I want the party's top officials to start the process of choosing the next leader right away.”

Kan, under fire for his handling of a nuclear crisis at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima atomic plant, on Monday spelled out conditions for keeping his promise to resign, including the passage of a bill to allow the issuance of deficit bonds and another to promote renewable energy sources.

Seiji Maehara, a former foreign minister and a possible contender to replace Kan, told Reuters in an interview that Japan should escape from deflation before hiking the 5 percent sales tax to curb public debt, echoing ruling party concerns that are stalling a more stringent government plan.

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