All four contenders are scrambling to win the votes of fellow party members in the run-off to be the LDP's next leader, replacing Mori. The winner of the LDP run-off is expected to be officially named prime minister shortly after the party election. Whoever wins the vote next Tuesday by the party's members of Parliament and representatives of its local chapters is assured of becoming prime minister because of the Liberal Democrats' strength in Parliament. Hashimoto told reporters on Wednesday he did not oppose the use of public money to help Japan's banks dispose of shares in public companies as part of a campaign to solve Japan's financial woes. It is not wrong to use public funds if needed.
Japan remains in a slump, with unemployment at near record levels and business sentiment gloomy.
But he added that Japan's prime minister has greater decision-making power due to recent reforms, and vowed to set economic goals and pass the needed laws to meet them within that period. Ironically, Hashimoto was prime minister when the LDP implemented a fiscal tightening, or increase in taxes, in 1997 that helped push Japan into recession and set the stage for a massive routing at the polls the next year. Hashimoto had generally been regarded as the strongest candidate because he leads the largest faction within the party, with about 100 votes. Before Wednesday's debate, another major faction, with 43 votes, endorsed him. But his support of a sales tax increase during his 1996-98 tenure as prime minister has made him unpopular with the voters, and many party members fear his election could hurt the party in Parliamentary elections this summer.