Japan's media lambast Abe over suicide, pension mess

TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) Japanese media today lambasted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warning that the suicide of a scandal-tainted minister and a furore over pensions could lead to defeat for his ruling camp at upper house elections in July.

Agriculture Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka's suicide yesterday, hours before he was to face questioning in parliament, coincided with a slump in Abe's support rates ahead of his first big electoral test.

Matsuoka, 62, had come under fire for a series of political funding scandals, and questions about his suitability for the farm post were raised as soon as he was appointed in September.

''The responsibility of Prime Minister Abe, who appointed Mr Matsuoka as cabinet minister and who protected him after suspicions were raised, is not small.

''This is a major blow ahead of the upper house election,'' said an editorial by the conservative Sankei newspaper.

''It will not be easy to recover from this damage, but it is not permissible for the government and ruling parties to cover up the ties between money and politics,'' the newspaper added.

A loss by the ruling coalition in the upper house election would not force Abe to resign, since the more powerful lower chamber elects the prime minister. But it would allow the opposition to block key legislation and would almost certainly spark calls from his own party for him to step down.

Analysts say a setback for Abe's pro-market government in the poll could sour foreign investors' view on Japanese stocks.

Abe's popularity had already sagged sharply ahead of the suicide, mostly because of voter outrage over the failure of the government to keep proper track of some 50 million pension premium payments, meaning retirees could be short-changed.

Anger over political corruption was another factor.

A survey by the Asahi newspaper conducted before the suicide and published today showed Abe's support rate had sunk to 36 per cent, down eight points from just a week ago and the lowest level since Abe took office in September.

The decline mirrored that of two polls published yesterday.

''The failure to keep track of the records must be said to be irresponsible,'' charged the Nikkei business daily, which said in a separate editorial that Abe had suffered a ''very serious blow'' from Matsuoka's suicide.

''ACT OF FRAUD'' Opposition parties have threatened to submit a no-confidence motion against Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa today if the ruling camp goes ahead with its plan to push through the lower house a bill to drastically reform the scandal-plagued Social Insurance Agency, which manages public pensions.

''Mr Yanagisawa is the one most responsible for an act of fraud towards the public,'' Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party, told reporters yesterday.

Abe, at 52 Japan's youngest prime minister since World War Two, was brought in by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last September amid hopes that his youth and dapper style would buoy support for the party ahead of the upper house poll.

Abe soon won praise on the diplomatic front for repairing ties with China that had chilled under his predecessor.

But support rates for Abe, who is pushing a conservative agenda that includes revising Japan's pacifist constitution and boosting its global security role, later sagged after gaffes and funding scandals, including one that forced a minister to resign.

REUTERS CS SBA BST0624