Japanese Party Seeks Successor to Uno

Ruling party officials eager to shore up their battered organization opened talks Thursday on a successor to resigning Japanese Prime Minister Sosuke Uno.

Secretary General Ryutaro Hashimoto, the party’s No. 2 official, appeared to have won the support of many party leaders, although some believe that at age 51 he is too young to take the job while the party is in crisis, one official said.

The Liberal Democratic Party officials decided that a replacement should be picked Aug. 8 at a caucus of party lawmakers and approved in a special session of Parliament soon thereafter. The party’s choice is expected to win routine approval by the bicameral Parliament because the Liberal Democrats control the more powerful lower house.

However, opposition party officials continue to oppose any early session of Parliament. They say they need time to work on a bill to abolish an unpopular new 3% sales tax.

The tax was a major issue in elections Sunday for half the seats in the upper house of Parliament. It contributed to the Liberal Democrats’ loss of a majority in that chamber for the first time in their 34-year history.