The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will choose a new leader on Sept 22 to replace outgoing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who quit abruptly last Monday over a parliamentary deadlock.

Former foreign minister Taro Aso, the front runner, could face up to six rivals in the party leadership race, which is shaping up as a debate over how to balance the need to stimulate Japan's faltering economy with the constraints of a huge public debt.

The outspoken Mr Aso is putting top priority on boosting growth.

'A decision on when to call a snap election will be up to the new prime minister,' Mr Makoto Koga, who heads the LDP's election committee, told public broadcaster NHK.

'But as the one in charge of elections, I think the best schedule would be if we can face a general election after making the best of the LDP leadership race,' he said.

Asked if an October election was possible, Mr Koga said: 'I think October would be a rather tight schedule.

'Whether it will be early November or late November, I want the new prime minister to make an appropriate decision.'

The new LDP leader is all but certain to become the next prime minister because of the party's lower house majority.

No lower house election need be held until September 2009 but expectations of an early poll are mounting. The Yomiuri newspaper said on Saturday that a Nov 9 election was being discussed.

'In opinion polls and editorials, many are saying 'Seek a mandate soon',' Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said on another TV talk show. 'An early election could be an option.'

Mr Fukuda, 72, is the second prime minister to resign in less than a year over a divided parliament, where the main opposition Democratic Party and smaller allies control the upper house and can delay key legislation and block appointments.

The stalemate has stymied policies from diplomacy to steps to cope with rising social security costs of a fast-ageing society.

Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa has made no secret of his desire for an early general election in hopes of ousting the LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the past half-century.

Mr Fukuda's resignation seems to have given the LDP a bit of a boost at least for now. A survey published last Wednesday by Kyodo news agency showed that 43.3 per cent of voters want the LDP to lead the next government, up 8.5 points from an August poll.

That compared to 41.7 per cent who favoured a Democratic Party-led administration, down 6.5 points.

Analysts agree, though, that the LDP and its junior partner are likely to lose their two-thirds majority in the lower house, which currently allows it to enact laws rejected by the upper chamber, and could fall short of a simple majority as well. -- REUTERS

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