NAKASONE SET TO STAY UNTIL TAX REFORM APPROVED
Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone will
step down only after his plan to overhaul Japan's tax system
gets parliamentary approval, one of his closest aides said
today.
    The aide, who declined to be identified, said at a private
meeting, "Nakasone's power in office does not necessarily
terminate at the end of his term in October. It depends on when
(the) seven tax reform bills get parliamentary approval."
    Nakasone vowed yesterday to press on with his plan despite
Sunday's unexpected Upper House by-election defeat of the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a conservative
stronghold.
    The socialist winner, backed by other opposition parties,
had campaigned against a controversial five pct value added
sales tax, the main plank of the reform plans.
    The aide dismissed the possibility of any amendment of the
sales tax on the grounds the opposition parties were demanding
nothing but retraction of the tax.
    They have been refusing to discuss a draft budget for the
1987 fiscal year starting on April 1, which includes the tax
plans. They have been resorting to an on-off boycott of
parliament since February 4.
   "If I were Nakasone, I would close the current regular
parliamentary session on May 27 as scheduled, attend the Venice
summit of industrial democracies in June and open an
extraordinary session to discuss the tax plans," the aide said.
    Under law, a regular session can be extended only once
while an extraordinary session can be extended twice.The other
option would be to extend the current session, he said.
    "The opposition parties will surely present a no-confidence
motion against the Nakasone Cabinet at one stage or another."
    One scenario then will be to reject the motion opening up
the way for tax reform.
   "Another scenario is the resignation of the Nakasone Cabinet
en masse. A third scenario is a dissolution of the Lower House
for a snap general election," the aide said.
    That is only possible if the 200 opposition members resign
from the 512-seat Lower House, necessitating by-elections.
    The LDP now has 304 seats in the Lower House after its
landslide victory in general elections last July.
    There are five independents and three vacancies.
    "The LDP which will put up candidates will certainly inflate
their seats, but at the expense of fierce media criticism," the
aide said.
    He said he expected the proposed sales tax to have little
effect on local elections to be held on April 12 and 26.
    About 2,600 elections will be held in all but three of the
nation's 47 prefectures including 13 gubernatorial elections.
    "Candidates running in prefectural assemblies will all
oppose the sales tax irrespective of their party tickets.
    "Possible effects, if any, will be on gubernatorial
elections in Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and
Fukuoka in southern Japan," he said.
    The two posts are now held by opposition socialists.
 REUTER
