JAPAN:Japan's farm minister resigned yesterday over illegal dealings at a farmers' group he headed, delivering a fresh blow to prime minister Shinzo Abe just a week after he revamped his cabinet to try to revive his popularity.
A junior minister also quit and the head of a parliamentary ethics panel said he would resign and leave the ruling party, both for fudging financial reports.
The latest scandals were expected to erode Mr Abe's support, which had recovered after he unveiled his new cabinet, but political analysts said the 52-year-old conservative was likely to stay on in the absence of a rival who wants the job now.
Mr Abe's first cabinet was plagued by scandals and gaffes that forced out several ministers and contributed to a disastrous defeat for the ruling camp in a July 29th upper house election.
"I had thought only one more scandal and he would be out, but maybe . . . he will keep being unpopular but stay in office," said Koichi Nakano, a Sophia University political science professor.
Agriculture minister Takehiko Endo was the first to depart from a revamped cabinet that Mr Abe had hoped would rebuild public support after the election drubbing that cost the governing coalition control of parliament's upper house.
"I decided on the personnel line-up considering who was best suited for the jobs and it's very unfortunate that this was the result," a weary-looking Mr Abe told reporters. "I want to restore the people's trust by steadily implementing policies for the sake of their livelihoods."
Mr Endo admitted on Saturday that a farmers' aid group he headed had illegally accepted 1.15 million yen (€7,300) from the state and that he had failed to tell Mr Abe this before his appointment.
Mr Abe's first farm minister took his own life in a separate scandal. The second was fired over reports of discrepancies in political funding records. Two other ministers in Mr Abe's first cabinet were also forced to resign.
"This is the third farm minister to resign. It's not normal. I feel a deep sense of mistrust toward Abe's government," said Yukiko Mizumura, 45, who works in TV programming in Tokyo.
"I think Abe should step down," she said, adding it was time to give the main opposition Democratic Party a chance.
No election for the powerful lower house, where the ruling camp has a huge majority, needs to be held until 2009, but some pundits have said deadlock in parliament could force a snap poll.
Financial markets, worried about unexpected signs of weakness in Japan's economy and the outlook for interest rates, spared little thought for Mr Abe's plight, although some said resignations boded ill for his ability to implement policies.
Public support for Mr Abe, who took power a year ago pledging to revise Japan's pacifist constitution and boost its security profile, rebounded to about 40 per cent in some surveys after he named the new cabinet, which is packed with political veterans.
The honeymoon may prove to be short. "I think Abe should be replaced," said office worker Eriko Nohira, 36. "He has no leadership ability and no charisma."
Mr Endo's resignation has also given a feisty opposition new ammunition. "This is not just a matter of one minister's scandal, but a deep structural problem of collusive ties between the government, bureaucracy and industry," said Kenji Yamaoka, in charge of parliamentary affairs for the Democratic Party.
Another new appointee, parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs Yukiko Sakamoto, resigned after admitting that a campaign office in her constituency misreported political fund outlays. Tokuichiro Tamazawa, a former farm minister and head of the lower house ethics committee, said he would resign and leave the party for similar misdeeds.
Mr Abe's beleaguered government faces a tough time enacting laws in a parliament session expected to start next week, including one to extend a naval mission in support of US-led operations in Afghanistan that the opposition is against.