Japan Political Jostling Tilts to Right : Asia: Two new conservative opposition groups delay choosing sides as Liberal Democrats take another look at reforms they rejected in June.

The maneuvering to form a new government in Japan suddenly took a turn to the right Monday as the Liberal Democratic Party moved to accept political reforms that it rejected in June.

Two new conservative opposition groups, which hold the decisive votes in determining whether Japan will be led by a coalition headed by the Liberal Democrats or by a multi-party opposition government, responded by postponing plans to finalize a deal with the other opposition groups.

Japanese media also reported that moves were under way to postpone from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6, at the earliest, the opening of Parliament to choose a new prime minister.

Masayoshi Takemura, leader of the New Party Harbinger, told reporters that he and Morihiro Hosokawa, founder of the grass-roots Japan New Party, still favor an alliance with five opposition parties to give Japan its first non-Liberal Democrat government since 1955, when Japan’s heretofore perennial rulers came into existence.

But he said that the two centrist parties wanted to take a look at the final Liberal Democrat response to their demands for political reform. As a result, a plan to finalize an agreement for an opposition-led coalition on Wednesday was being shelved, he added.

Last Friday, the two parties demanded, as the price for their support, that other parties agree to replace multi-seat constituencies with a combination of single-seat districts and representatives chosen by proportional representation. They also demanded that political contributions by corporations be abolished.

On Friday, Takemura predicted that the Liberal Democrats, who for decades have opposed any ban on corporate donations, would find the centrist demands “a high hurdle” to jump. But Monday, the Liberal Democrats’ “political reform headquarters” approved the reform plan--with no opposition--in what was regarded as a last-ditch effort to stay in power.

The meeting was attended by Seiroku Kajiyama, the Liberal Democrats’ secretary general, and the party’s three other top day-to-day executives--the same leaders who refused to accept virtually the same proposal in June. Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, who resigned as party president last Thursday, also attended.

The June decision precipitated a split in the party, a no-confidence vote against Miyazawa and the first-ever defeat for the Liberal Democrats in lower-house parliamentary elections, on July 18.

Approval by four more party organs is needed to make the reform program part of official Liberal Democrat policy, and the party promised to rush through those procedures today.

Although plans for an opposition-led coalition were left up in the air, the Liberal Democrats remained committed to their schedule to elect a new party president. The party is to accept registration of candidates Wednesday, hear policy speeches from them Thursday and elect the new leader Friday.

Japanese media reported that still more surprises may lie ahead. Among them was the possibility of a rebellion by the Socialists’ left wing, which would make an opposition coalition more difficult. There was even the prospect of a “grand alliance” encompassing all eight parties from the Liberal Democrats to the Socialists. Only the Communists would be excluded, reported the Nihon Keizai newspaper, quoting a leader of the New Party Harbinger.

When he was the most powerful figure in Japanese politics, Shin Kanemaru, the fallen kingpin of the ruling party who went on trial last Thursday for tax evasion, often had spoken of “my dream” of bringing the Socialists and the Liberal Democrats together.